The Assassin and Her Kitten
by Fall.Before.You.Fly
Summary: Much to her disgust, Claire Evans is Tony Stark's daughter, and when Fury decides that she would be a valuable asset to the Avengers, all hell breaks loss. Daddy issues come to the spotlight, new emotions arise and her mysterious kitten turns everyone's life upside down. Oh, and there's that crush on Captain America to worry about too.
1. Chapter 1

The six members of the Avengers sat around a table. Just over a month had pass since the battle with Loki and the Chitauri had ended and Director Fury had called them all into a meeting, which none of them seemed to be too pleased about.

"Fury does realise that some of us actually have things they could be doing with their time?' Tony Stark said to no one in particular after getting tired of waiting for the director for the amazing grand total of two and a half minutes. The others just ignored him, too used to Tony's sarcastic comments to give him answer.

Just then, Director Fury walked into the room and closed the door behind him with a solid thud.

"You're all here, good." Fury said "As you all know, Loki is locked up in Asgard and will not be escaping any time soon"

"Loki is being punished for his crimes and will not be leaving the prison of Asgard" The Demi-god, Thor, confirmed.

"Earth is safe for now, but it is reasonable to assume that in the future, another threat will arise."

"I think we've got the whole 'saving the world' thing down pat" Stark said smirking as he began to stand up "so if that's all I'm going to-"

"Sit down and shut up, Stark" Natasha Romanoff growled. She wanted this meeting to be short and sweet, but with Stark and his egocentric ways, it was becoming clear that it was not going to happen. Tony raised his hands in surrender and sat back down.

"However" the director continued as if he had never been interrupted "Yes, the Avengers managed to beat Loki and the Chitauri, but it was a close call. In the future, S.H.E.I.L.D hopes that it won't be such a close fight.

This is why it has been decided that there will be a new member added to the Avengers Initiative. This person was just a backup plan but-"

"You had a backup plan?" Tony questioned.

"You're asking me if I had a backup plan Mr Stark?" Fury said raising an eyebrow "I am the super spy. My secrets have secrets. Of course I had a backup plan." Director Fury smirked at the chance to let Stark know that yes, yes he does know everything and anything he does or says.

"But it was decided that it would be more useful if this person was added as a permanent addition to the Avengers than just a backup plan."

"And what was this 'back up plan'?" Doctor Banner asked quickly as Tony opened his mouth to say something else that was probably offensive.

"She" Fury said "is one of S.H.E.I.L.D's best agents. She was on a mission in North Siberia during Loki's attack, but the idea was that if the Avengers were to fail she would step in to help."

"She?" Steve mumbled quietly to himself. Even after seeing Agent Romanoff and countless of other women fighting, it was difficult for him to process the idea of a woman being on the frontline. It went against every ideal and moral he was brought up with.

"I'm not against the idea of another female on the team" Stark said with a cocky grin on his face. This only caused Fury to chuckle.

"I believe that you will be taking your words back after meeting her Stark. Agent Evans, come in."

At his command a young female walked into the room. She was a medium height with a slim build. Her long dark hair was pulled back into a pony tail. With a gun strapped onto her hip and clothed in dark fighting gear, everything about her screamed 'do not mess with me'. She surveyed the room with bright, intelligent brown eyes, when her gaze settled on Tony, a frown formed on her face.

"Clarissa?" Stark said with his mouth hanging open.

"I thought you said that he wouldn't be here" she said to Director Fury.

"I lied" Fury said calmly. Agent Evans sighed and looked as if she was being forced to do something extremely unpleasant as a pained expression crossed her face.

"Hi... Dad."


	2. Chapter 2

"A teenage girl with daddy issues was your backup plan?" Banner asked in disbelief. Oh nice, I thought to myself. Daddy issues? Yeah I'll give him that one, but a teenager? How old did he think I was? Sixteen?

"She's not a teenager, she's 20" Tony pointed out, though completely ignoring the daddy issue remark.

"I'm 21" I said. I crossed my arms as all eyes in the room where on me.

"What? Since when where you 21?" my 'father' asked, sounding confused as he tried to count the years.

"It was my birthday last week" I said, trying to keep the venom out my voice, key word there, trying.

"And you wonder why she has 'daddy issues'?" Hawkeye mumbled.

"Fury, I do not think it is appropriate to involve a child" Thor stated, staring at me as if he were sizing me up.

"I've been on a couple of missions with Agent Evans" Agent Romanoff said "She's more than capable" thank you Natasha! You are now, officially my new favourite person.

"It was not your birthday last week" Tony said under his breath.

"Oh yeah?" I said to Tony "When is my birthday then?" I asked.

"It's ah… in…" Tony mumbled, scratching his head. I shook my head; it's not like I expected anything less. I felt the sudden need to punch something and hard, like a wall… or my father's head…

"This is not negotiable" Fury said "Agent Evans is now part of the Avengers"

Tony, Bruce and Thor all opened their mouths to say something, presumably to complain.

"Not negotiable!" yelled Fury over the top of them as he headed towards the door.

"Try not to kill him" Fury said to me.

"No promises" I mumbled "and you do realize that Lucious is going to kill you for taking away her partner?"

"I'll risk the consequences" Fury said rolling his eye as he exited the room.

I turned to face the others. Well this was awkward as hell. We all sat in silence, none of us knowing what to say.

"Well I guess there is no arguing with Fury once he's made up his mind" Captain America said, finally breaking the quiet.

"Welcome to the Avengers"

I sat in the cafeteria by myself just picking at the food in front of me. Where the hell was Lucious when I needed her most? She could always tell me the right thing to do, with her morals and all that crap. No, I told myself sternly. Don't rely on others, not even her. You'll only get yourself hurt.

Just then Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton sat down in front of me with their own trays of food. I raised an eyebrow at them in question. I had never really talked to either of the two Agents, I had been on a couple of missions with Romanoff and only one with Barton but that was at least a year ago. We knew each other well enough to acknowledge the other when passing each other but that was the extant of our relationship. I suppose now I was part of the Avengers that was going to have to change. I was tempted to laugh at myself, Lucious would be so proud of me, socialising and all.

"So how long have you known Stark was your father?" Natasha asked me grinning. I held back a sigh, and here comes the questions. I contemplated not answering as I lifted a blueberry and ate it but I knew if I did then it would only prolong the agony of the questioning.

"Since I was four" I replied, idly wondering how many questions she could come up with.

"I take it you two don't get along?" Barton asked me. Despite myself I laughed at this.

"Really? What give it away Barton?" I asked sarcastically with a grin on my face. Damn it Evans, I yelled to myself, you are not here to make friends. I sighed quietly. Distance yourself from others and you'll be safe. You were foolish enough to let Lucious into your life, don't let anyone else in.

"I can't believe I didn't notice" Natasha said, breaking my inner lecture.

"Notice what?" I asked confused, did I miss something here?

"That Stark's your father, you look so much like him" Romanoff continued. I glared at her slightly, a connection between Stark and I was not one I wanted.

"Sorry kid but she's right" Barton said, smiling. That was the only thing I could fault with Clint. He was an excellent assassin but he had this extremely annoying habit that he had formed on our mission of calling me 'kid'. "You look a lot alike, it's kind of obvious"

And… that's where my socialising ends. Right there, at the comments about how I look so much like daddy dearest. I looked at my phone, pretending that I had gotten a message.

"Oh, will you look at that" I said, pretending to sound disappointed. "Lucious needs me. Gotta go!"

Without waiting for either of them to reply, I stood up and quickly walked out of the cafeteria and down a corridor. I sighed as I twisted down the many corridors of S.H.I.E.L.D's base, the closest thing I had to a home. I really need to work on come up with better lies. Being an assassin you would think I would be pretty good at creating lies on the spot but no. The truth was that Lucious was currently on a mission in Fiji. I just hoped that Romanoff and Barton didn't know that.

As I stalked down the corridors, with no real destination in place I suddenly saw the one person I probably wanted to avoid the most right now. My father. Fantastic. I contemplated turning around so to not face him but considering that Captain America and the Hulk were also with him it might be a bit rude. Also the fact that we were now part of the same team and Fury had ordered me to 'play nice' it may be a reasonable assumption to try to get used to him. Try.

I nodded in their direction and walked up to them.

"Hello Miss Evans" Rogers said to me as I approached them. I glanced up at him, with his impressive height of 6'2" against my not so impressive height of 5'2" he easily towered over me. "It's a pleasure to meet you; I look forward to working with you" huh, so gentlemen did still exist nowadays. Or at least, he was polite enough to not say what he really thought.

"Nice to meet you Captain" I said, forcing a smile on my face "You too, Doctor Banner."

"Just call me Bruce, seeing how we're working together now" Banner said with an awkward smile. "And I'm sorry about what I said before, about the teenager thing"

"It's fine" I said "You're entitled to your opinion" it's just that your opinion is wrong and it sucks. "And call me Claire then" I said, hating it that I was giving him permission to use my name. Nobody called me Clarissa, let alone Claire, besides Lucious and even then that was a rare occasion when she used my nickname. First names, and definitely nicknames, were not something that assassins used on a regular basis.

"Well Claire I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of each other soon enough" Banner said. He and Captain America then headed in the opposite direction. What? Wait! Don't leave me alone with this jackass of a human! I was tempted to call after them but that would only show weakness, something that I was determined not to be.

I looked up at my father; even that bastard was taller than me at 6'1". Why the hell was I so short? Stupid genetics. My height, or lack off, was rather a sore spot for me and something Lucious gladly pointed out on a regular basis. We both stood there in silence, neither of us knowing what to say.

It had been 8 years since I last saw my father and 13 since we had been alone together. I used to imagine what I would say to him given the chance, but now that I had that chance I just stood there in silence.

"So how have you been lately?" Stark asked after a while.

"Oh yeah, pretty good thanks. How about you? You haven't gotten aids yet from one of your whores?"

"A jealous virgin, I see" Tony said smirking at me. I snorted as I continued to walk down the corridors, not caring if he followed me or not.

"Nah, I lost my virginity when I was 17"

"WHAT?"

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed and favourite-ed the story! It means so much to me, I'll try to update at least once a day, and if I don't... blame school.


	3. Chapter 3 I Don't Need Anyone

Chapter 3 - I Don't Need Anyone.

I sat on the edge of my bed, with my knees drawn up to my chest staring out the window and at the stars above. Just then the phone on the bed-side table next to me started to buzz, showing me that I had an incoming call. I grinned when I saw the caller I.D.

"What happened to being undercover?" I asked the one person in this world who I actually considered a friend.

"The mission finished early" Sapphire Lucious told me.

"How did it go?" I asked as I debated with myself to tell her that I was now part of the Avengers and that she would need to find a new partner. If I told her now I would have a couple of days to prepare to face her wrath, and she could have some time to calm down. It was unlikely that she would calm down about it, but still, one can dream.

"Pretty good" Sapphire replied. I mumbled half a reply, still deep in thought. "You're hiding something" she accused quickly. Son of a bitch.

"Pfft no." I said, trying to sound causal "Why would I hide something from you? I-"

"You're hiding something."

….

"Yeah".

I heard Sapphire sigh "What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing much. But you may…. Need to find a new partner" I said as quickly as possible. Like ripping off a band aid I told myself, just hurry up and get it over and done with. There was silence for a moment then:

"What?" Sapphire asked in a deadly tone "What did you do?"

"Hey! I did nothing" I said "this one is all on Fury"

"Why? What did Fury do?" she questioned.

"Well I suppose you could consider it a promotion" I said frowning "Fury decided… to make me a part of the Avengers" I was greeted with silence again, but this time a stunned silence.

"Wow" Sapphire said after a while "congratulations I suppose"

"No! Not 'congratulations'!" I said snapped, raising my voice ever so slightly "you know that my prick of a father is in the Avengers"

"Well… maybe this could be a good chance-"

"Think very carefully about how you end this sentence Lucious" I said warning her.

"Maybe, you could get to know your dad" she suggested sounding cautious, and rightly so.

"I know Stark, he's an egocentric, alcoholic jerk that only cares about himself who knocked my mum up and he couldn't handle the consequences of his actions and abandoned her" I growled.

"Is that what you know, or is that what the media is telling you?" God damn Lucious and her deep and meaningful shit.

"I don't want to get to know him" I said stubbornly, not even sure who I was trying to convince.

"Claire" Sapphire said softly "I don't have the chance to get to know my parents. That was taken away from me, but you do. You have the opportunity to have a parent in your life, a family"

"The difference is your parents wanted you. Tony never wanted me" I said softly, trying to keep the pain and the hurt out of my voice.

"Claire-"

"It's late" I said interrupting her "I'm tired, I should probably get some sleep and you should too" Sapphire sighed in defeat.

"I'll be back in a couple days, kay?" she said

"Kay, I'll see you then" I said hanging up before she could reply.

I placed the phone back on the bed side table and rolled over onto my back only to stare furiously at the roof above me. Lucious is wrong, I told myself. You don't need Stark in your life. Your life is fine how it is. You don't need a father, you've survived this long without one, and you can keep doing so.

You don't need him. I repeated to myself over and over in my head, as if the repetition would help make the words true.

I don't need him.

I don't need anyone.


	4. Chapter 4 Meeting The Captain

Chapter 4 - Meeting The Captain.

I glanced up at the alarm clock besides my bed. The bright neon lights read 4:45am, I slipped out of bed and began to get ready for the day, only to pause and stop what I was doing. What was I meant to do with myself now? I wasn't a normal agent now; I was part of the Avengers. When I was at base with no mission, I followed the strict routine with every other Agent;

0500 hours: 5 mile run

0530 hours: breakfast

0600 hours: group training

0800 hours: weapons training

1000 hours: fitness training

1100 hours: psychological analysis of the enemy

1200 hours: lunch

1300 hours: debriefing

1400 hours: 10 mile run

1530 hours: outside obstacle course

1600 hours: free time until 0500 hours.

And repeat. Day in and day out. Rain, hail or shine. No ifs and no buts. So what was I meant to do with myself now? What the hell did the Avengers do when they weren't… avenging stuff? I contemplated going back to bed but the odds of me falling asleep again where nothing to naught. I was too used to this godforsaken routine. I paced around my room for a few moments before deciding that if I continued to do so, the only thing I would achieve would be to drive myself insane. I grabbed a bag and shoved some workout clothes in it before heading out of my room and towards one of the many training rooms. Even at this early hour, the corridors of S.H.I.E.L.D were alive and buzzing with activity.

I slowly worked my way to a training room that I hoped would be empty. And thank god, it was. Now let's just hope it stays that way. I went into the change room and changed into my workout clothes which included a pair of tight black shorts and a blue and grey sports crop top that showed off my stomach. I pulled my hair up into a bun as I stepped back into the training room and onto a treadmill. I started with a fast walk then progressed to a slow jog and speeding up until I was moving at a steady sprint.

You gotta give S.H.I.E.L.D some credit, while they may be slightly retarded in some areas, they did know how to train their agents. After running a small marathon, I was in a significantly better mood and decided to was time to actually push my body. I walked over to where a group of punching bags hung from the ceiling and began to strap my hands and wrists to protect them. After winding the white cloth around my hands I headed over to the heaviest punching bag there was and started to do what I had the urge to do yesterday upon seeing my father's face. Punch the shit out of something. I attacked the punching bag with everything I had, punching it, side kicking, diagonal kick, anything to hurt the punching bag that I was imagining to be my father's head. I was going all out and soon enough sweat began covering my body and my heart started to pound. Finally when I delivered a side kick hard enough that I knocked the punching bag off its hook and it went flying into the wall, I became conscious that I was no longer alone and that a pair of sky blue eyes were watching me.

"Rogers?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow as I panted and tried to catch my breath.

"Excuse my language, but that's one hell of a kick you have ma'am" the captain said, standing there in awe, when suddenly he glanced down and a light blush coated his checks, I glanced down as well, noticing what I was wearing. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Thanks" I said, smiling at Rogers "and I suppose the women didn't dress like this 70 years ago" I placed a hand on my hip, and winked at him, seeing if I could get a darker blush out of him.

"Ah, no ma'am" the captain said, sounding embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck and tried to look anywhere but at me, a dark red blush now coated his checks. I laughed again and walked over to the wall to where my drink battle and towel was and slid down till I was sitting and leaning against the wall. I took a long drink from the bottle and wiped away the sweat on my forehead before it could run into my eyes. My muscles twitched as I focused on slowing my breathing and heart rate back down to their normal levels.

"You're up early" I commented, it was easily only 6:30. As he walked over to the punching bag that I had abused before, he picked it up and easily slung it over his shoulder and placed it back on its hook. Deciding the I had teased the poor man and had pushed his morals enough, I stood up and slipped on a pair of lose, black pants and a light grey t-shirt.

"You are too" Steve said as he began to wrap up his hands in the same fashion I had before. I just shrugged. He walked over to the punching bag and started to well… punch. His swing was easy and relaxed but I could tell just by watching him the amount of precision and control he had over his hits.

Okay, so he had some serious muscle going on. I wondered what his chest was like underneath his t-shirt. And let's stop that thought right there Evans. I told myself, you're not here to make friends. Not even friends with that sexy piece of Captain over there.

DAMN IT!

For the next two hours Rogers and I worked out and just talked. It was… nice. Easy. Once Rogers had gotten over his initial embarrassment, that is. There was no pressure to fill the silence with idle chatter, and he was a good work out partner, he kept me motivated. Also he was a nice piece of eye candy, which I was not complaining about at all.

After half an hour of convincing him that he wouldn't hurt me, the captain and I moved to a boxing ring to fight head on.

He was surprisingly fast for his size, but I was faster. He had the upper hand in strength but I was quicker, we both struggled to land blows on the other, too evenly matched for either one of us to get the upper hand in the fight. After an hour of struggling with each other, I finally managed to gain some ground on the man. We both were beginning to tire; this made his left side slightly slower than his right. If I wanted to win this fight, I would have to use this to my advantage. Rogers threw a punch to my right; I dodged this and quickly swept my left leg along the ground. Steve tried to dodge it but he moved too slowly, I managed to knock his feet from underneath him and he land on the ground heavily. Before he could move, I jumped onto his back and sat on his back with my legs either side of his waist. I pulled his left arm up behind his back, using just enough force to pin him down. Just then the door to the training room opened to reveal Banner and Barton staring at the two of us with their mouths hanging open.

"You got pinned by a girl?" Banner said after a moment, grinning at the fallen super-solider. I laughed as I got up off of Steve and leaned on the ropes, staring at the two men. And then, that adorable blush was back on the captains' cheeks.

"What's up?" I asked trying to sound casual, as if I hadn't just been sitting on Captain America's back with my legs either side of him. I really hoped that they didn't think anything was going on between me and Rogers, if Stark got wind of a rumour that something was happening between Rogers and I, I would never hear the end of it.

"Your father is looking for you" Clint told me. Steve got up off the ground and walked over to the edge of the ring and lifted the rope for me.

"Thanks for the fight" I said as I smiled up at him "and that's nice" I told Hawkeye as I stepped under the rope and jumped down from the ring onto the ground.

"Do you know where he is?" I asked as I headed to my stuff that was piled messily against the wall.

"Last I knew he was in the labs" Banner told me.

"Great" I said, I lifted my water bottle and drained it in a few mouth falls "now I know where to avoid" Rogers laughed as he lifted up a towel and wiped his face with it.

"Do you know what he wants?" I asked the assassin and the Hulk.

"The Avengers all live in the one place so when there's an emergency we' don't have to waste time trying to find out where everyone is." Banner explained "The plan was for the Avengers base to be at Stark Towers, but the repairs from Loki and the Chitauri attack are still going on, so we're currently at the Stark Mansion. And now your one of the Avengers, it would make sense for you to move in."

I lifted my bag off the ground and raised an eyebrow at them.

"Last time I was at Stark Mansion I was 13 years old. We got into a fight and a lot of things ended up broken, along with Tony's nose. And you want me to go live there?" I questioned them.

"You broke Starks nose?" Rogers asked me grinning.

"Yep" I said smirking, reliving the memory in my head. I headed to walk out the door.

"This isn't negotiable, is it?" I asked hoping it was, but already knowing it wasn't.

"Nope" I sighed in defeat.

"Well I guess I'll go pack my bags."

**Poor Claire being forced to live with her father :p I wonder how badly that will go down...**

**Thank you to everyone who is following the story and favourite-ed, you guys freaking rock. Thank you so much, it means a lot to me.**

**P.S I haven't got the plot fully figured out yet, so if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them :) **


	5. Chapter 5 Own Personal Hell

Chapter 5 - Own Personal Hell

A large bag sat on my bed half filled with my belongings. My clothes, shoes and makeup. My books; on different languages, continuum mechanics, psychology, biology, physics. My weapons; knives, swords, guns. You know the usual things a 21 year old girl would own. I had given up on packing and gone to have a shower, in the hope that when I returned my bags would have magically packed themselves.

But no, when I returned from my shower they still sat there only half pack. They only thing that had changed was the time and that I was now wet and only had a towel wrapped around my body. I turned around to get dress. Once I finished dressing I froze, my heart start to race and adrenaline began to pump though my body. Someone was in my room. I reached for the closest weapon to me, a knife. I prepared to throw it at the intruder as I span around only to freeze when I saw who, or should I say what it was.

"Don't do that do me!" I growled at the small black and white kitten now sitting in the middle of one of my suitcase. The kitten blinked is large, blue eyes up at me. "What happened to a few days?" I asked the kitten. When my only response was a meow, I rolled my eyes at the small fury animal. I jumped down on my bed and lay next to the bags.

"They want me to go live in Stark Mansion with the rest of the Avengers" I muttered for the cat's benefit. This time, the small kitten hissed, voicing its dislike of the idea.

"Yeah I know, Fury's an ass. Do you want to come with me?" I asked the kitten, grinning when the kitten merely curled into a small ball amongst my clothes.

"Let's give them hell."

I carried my bags in my hand and Kitten (do not give me shit about how unoriginal name for a kitten that is, I suck at coming up with names) laid draped across my shoulders. We walked down the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D's base for what could be the last time for a while. As I headed towards Fury's office some of the people I passed said goodbye and good luck, apparently already knowing about my 'promotion', but for the most part, I walked in silence.

"You know, Fury might not actually let you come with me" I muttered quietly to Kitten, who apparently didn't hear or was ignoring my comment as I got no reply for her. I reached Fury's office and without bothering to knock just opened the door and walked in.

As I walked in, Fury and my fathers' conversation broke off as they both looked up at me.

"You do release that there's a thing called knocking?" Fury said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"What's he doing here?" I asked rudely, nodding my head in Stark's direction as I placed my bags besides my feat, suddenly feeling as if I was 4 years old again. When I was younger, I was forced to spend time with Tony, every summer he would come pick me up and I would spend 2 weeks with him at Stark Mansion. This continued for a number of years until I was 13 and refused to see him anymore. The plan was to never see that bastards face again, and it was going quite well. Until now that is.

"I'm taking you home, kid" Tony said, grinning.

"Don't call me that" I growled. What the hell was with people calling me 'kid'? I was no child "and I'm perfectly capable of driving myself."

Tony shrugged "you ready to go?" I'm not a child! I wanted to scream at his arrogant face. Just because he missed most my childhood doesn't mean it didn't happen.

"Where are the others?" I asked wondering, please, please do not tell me that the others have already left and I'm stuck alone with Stark for the drive home.

"Already gone kid, it's just you and me" Tony said. NO! True I'm not too fond of any of the other avengers but I still preferred them to my father.

"What's with the cat?" Stark asked. So someone finally noticed. I shrugged, not bothering to answer.

"She's not going with you" Fury said. Kitten hissed in his direction. Clearly saying that yes, yes she was.

"Well…" I said slowly, as if giving the matter some thought "I suppose she could stay her with you Fury…"

"On second thought, the cat goes with you" the director said quickly. Yeah, that's what I thought.

Tony walked picked up one of my bags and walked out the door and I turned to follow.

"Clarissa?" Fury said, and I turned back around to look at him. Clarissa? What, was I in trouble or something? "Take care of yourself" he said softly. I froze but then couldn't help myself and smiled slightly.

"You too old man" I said grinning "I don't want to hear that you've died from old age or anything while I'm gone" I winked at him, bent to pick up my other bag and walked out the door, closing it behind me. I followed Tony in silence and headed outside. I let out a breath. Huh, so I'm leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. Not just for a mission, there was no plan. There was no objective. There was no return date. Just the unknown.

I hesitated slightly, before shaking myself and continued to follow Stark to his car. You're an assassin Evans, I told myself. You're not afraid of the unknown, you're not afraid of anything. It was a lie, but I still told myself as convincingly as possible.

I'm just uncertain if I was starting a new part of my life,

Or just getting closer to my own personal hell.

**Hope everyone is enjoying the story :) I love writing, though I should maybe focus on my schoolwork a bit more... Nah, I'd much rather write. **


	6. Chapter 6 Bonding Time with Daddy

Stark and I walked up to a silver Lamborghini Aventador, and I let out a low whistle. I had forgotten about the fixation my father had with nice cars. And not that I cared to admit it, it was a fixation we shared. I had a slight unhealthy obsession with going fast and pretty things, combine those two things together and you get cars.

"You like?" Stark asked grinning. I nodded in response.

"Though I must admit I do like the body of the Gallardo better" I said.

"The Gallardo better than the Aventador?" Tony questioned, staring at me as if I just said blasphemy "the Gallardo is over-praised"

"Yeah, but not as much as the Aventador" I argued, as we got in the car.

"The Aventador is 10 times better car, it can reach speeds of 260mph, while the Gallardo can only reach 217mph" Tony stated

"What's the point of having a car that fast?" I asked "You can't go that fast anywhere, plus the Gallardo is nearly 100kg lighter, and it's quicker off the mark by nearly 4 seconds" I pulled Kitten off my shoulders and placed her onto my lap where she curled up into a ball. Tony started the engine and off we drove. Though I was arguing against the Aventador, it did sound amazing and drove incredibly.

"The engine in the Gallardo is only a V10, the Aventador has a V12." Tony said. And back and forth it went, comparing facts and statistics about the two cars. It was bizarre actually talking to Stark, true it was only meaningless facts about cars, which meant nothing at the end of the day. But there was no shouting, no yelling (okay, making a little, but it was light-hearted…ish) just talking. Is this want a parent does with their child? Just talk about stuff? I don't know about that family bullshit. Kitten fell asleep on my lap and a soft purring filled the car as we headed towards Stark Mansion. It was a good 10 hour drive to the mansion from S.H.I.E.L.D's so I settled down and prepared myself for the long trip.

For the next 5 hours, the car was filled with silence. Once our conversation about cars had ended, neither of us knew what to say, so we sat there in silence. Kitten slept, time passed and the sky progressively darkened.

It was around 7:30pm when Stark pulled over to a pub on the side of the road, its neon lights flashing through the darkness. I raised an eyebrow in question.

"My stomach is about to commit suicide" he complained "also I could really go for a drink right about now." Of course he could, he can always go for a drink, regardless the time of day.

I sighed as Tony stepped out of the car. I gently picked up Kitten and placed her in the driver's seat.

"Stay here and don't do anything stupid" I ordered her as I opened the door and stepped out of the car. Tony and I walked to the pub and stepped inside, the smell of food washed over me and I almost drooled. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to stop and get some food. Then the smell of sweat, dirt and alcohol washed over me and I wrinkled my nose in disgust. The pub was filled with men, half drunk or just passed out. Stark led the way to the bar and I followed behind him.

Luckily, it was too dark, or everyone was just too drunk, to notice that the billionaire, Tony Stark, Iron Man had just walked in. Tony sat down at the bar and ordered a drink and some food while I leaned against the bar and gazed out over all the drunks, my assassin training kicking in whenever I went to someplace new. Our food arrived and I ate quickly, wanting to get out of the place as soon as possible. The smell of stale cigarettes and sweat was starting to get to me.

Just as I was about to tell Tony to hurry his ass up so we could leave, a man stumbled past and fell onto the seat next to me, he smelt like beer and desperation. I swear to god, if he uses a crappy pick up I will-

"Hey, what's a beautiful girl like you doing in a place like this" he slurred as he draped an arm across my shoulders.

"Get off of me" I snapped. Tony looked up from his glass and glared at the man.

"I suggest you listen to her" Tony snarled. Hey, looks like daddy's coming to the rescue. Too bad I didn't need rescuing.

"What are you? Her boyfriend" the man laughed.

"No I'm her father, and if you don't stop touching her, you will regret it" Stark growled as he stood quickly and his chair was pushed backwards and fell loudly to the ground. All conversation in the pub died as everyone froze to stare at us.

The man laughed "come on babe, don't listen to this prick" he said as he lifted a sweaty hand and stroked my face. Normally I would take the man's advice and ignore my father, but not this time. I grabbed two of the fingers of the hand on my face and bend them backwards, smirking as the guy started making sounds of pain. At the same time as I was bending his fingers back, I reached over with my other hand, grabbed the back of his head and slammed it into the counted of the bar, hard and fast. I pulled the guy's head up and smirked as I few teeth came loss and fell to the ground. I let go of the guy's head, and kicked one of the legs of the chair he was sitting on and smirked as the chair suddenly collapsed under his weight. I held his arm up in the air; fingers bend backwards painfully as I stood above him. "Maybe next time you'll think twice before touching a woman when she said no" I growled into his ear before giving his arm one deadly pull. I smirked as I heard the all too familiar pop of his shoulder popping out of place before I let the guy's hand go. The guys sat in a bundle on the ground nursing two brokens fingers, a dislocated shoulder and multiply broken teeth. Not this guy's lucky day.

"Sorry about the mess" I told the bar tender who stood there with his mouth open wide. I stormed towards the exit and everyone scrambled to get out of my way. Tony followed my silently as I stalked to the car. God damn males, fuck they piss me off sometimes.

"Give me the keys" I told Stark when I reached the car "I'm driving"

"You are not driving my baby" Stark snorted, I raised an eyebrow.

"Okay then" I shrugged, Tony stared at me with a shocked look on his face, as if he didn't except to me to give up that easily. Ha, the poor bastard, thinking that I had given up.

"I suppose I'll just have to break in and hotwire the car then"

"Okay, okay! You can drive!"


	7. Chapter 7 Welcome to Stark Mansion

Chapter 7 - Welcome to Stark Mansion

We drove in silence, except for Tony giving me the occasional direction. I guess he knew when to keep his mouth shut and not to push me. Smart man.

Kitten didn't seem to impressed at first that she had to sit on Tony's lap now, I guess my hatred for the man had worn off on her, but when Tony started to scratch her behind her ear, a soft purr filled the car and she was content to stay in his lap… so long as he continued to pat her.

All too soon we pulled up into the circle drive way of the mansion and into the garage. I don't know if I should be happy or sad. Happy that I was no longer in that godforsaken car with the ass, or sad because I was back here a place that I swore I would never go back to, Stark Mansion.

Tony stepped out of the car and went to grab my bags. I pulled Kitten onto my lap and stared at her

"Remember, we're here to kill people, annoy the avengers and to make my father's life a living hell, not to make friends." I told the cat, she answered with a meow and I stepped out of the car and placed her on my shoulders again.

"Hello Miss Stark" Jarvis said. One thing of the few things I had missed about Stark Mansion was the A.I who ran the house, Jarvis. (The other things included the food and my bed) "It is good to see you again"

"Not so good to be back Jarvis" I called out "but thanks anyway and please don't call me that"

"As you wish Miss Evans." I picked up my other bag and we headed inside.

Stark Mansion was just as I remembered, huge, huge and huge.

"You can have your old room" Tony told me. I nodded in reply as we walked in the kitchen. Kitten jumped off my shoulder and onto the island in the centre of the kitchen where Romanoff and Barton sat talking and drinking coffee. Kitten walked over to them and sat in front of Barton, staring at him with her large blue eyes as she just meowed at him.

"You should feel special Barton" I said letting out a laugh "she doesn't like too many people"

"You brought a cat?" Romanoff said, staring at Kitten.

"Yep" I said leaning against the counter, Kitten rubbed up against Barton as he started to pat her, she let out a purr. "Though I'm beginning to think that she'll do anything for pats" I frowned. I walked over to the fridge and quickly scanned the insides of it before grapping an apple. I jumped onto the bench besides the fridge and took a bite. My feet hung a good foot and a half from the floor. One thing I hated about this place. All the freaking benches where tall and all the freaking cupboards where up high, when I was younger, I couldn't reach any of the cupboards or selves, I just hoped that I had grown enough that I could now reach, though sadly I doubted that I had.

"So what do you guys do all day?" I asked Romanoff and Barton "I presume you're not off saving the world all the time?" Romanoff let out a short laugh.

"Nah" Barton said "so much better at being at S.H.I.E.L.D, no god damn routine that starts the day off at 5am with a 5mile run"

"We pretty much do whatever we want" Natasha added "Banner and Stark do god knows what in the labs, Thor does his godly, kingly shit, and the rest of us just train and relax"

"Wow, no 5am runs anymore?" I said grinning "how unfortunate" I finished off the rest of my apple and chucked the core in the bin. I jumped off the table and picked up my bags.

"Well I'm off to bed" I said as I headed off towards my room "you coming Kitten?" I called out. There was the soft sound of Kittens paws landing on the floorboards as she jumped off the kitchen's island and ran after me.

"I'm surprised Lucious hasn't killed Fury yet" Barton muttered under his breath as he walked away.

"And what's with the cat?" Natasha asked. I couldn't help but let out a laugh. They had no idea.

I walked down the hall and into my room.

"Jarvis lights please" I called out and instantly the lights turned on. It was just as I remembered it.

A large circled room with white walls, a large bed was to the right of the room and just under half of the room's walls were a large, glass window that looked out over the ocean. Kitten walked into and headed straight for the bed and I closed the door.

I placed my bags down on the floor, a sudden weariness passed over me. Maybe it was the long day, combined with putting up with my father and dealing with the drunk at the bar, but I was beyond exhausted. Without caring about anything else, I slipped into the first pair of pyjamas I could find, instructed Jarvis to lock my door and turn off the lights, and just fell into bed.

"If I roll over and squish you in the middle of the night, I don't care" I murmured to Kitten. She hissed a reply, but I was already asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I sighed happily as I rolled over in the extremely comfy bed and snuggled into the blankets only to freeze. This wasn't my bed. My eyes flew open as I sat up, my eyes scanning the room. I sighed as I forced my body to relax and lay back down. I was in my over-sized bed, in my over-sized room, in the over-sized mansion that I now called home. Kitten slept soundly, curled up into a tight ball to my left. I swear, all she did was sleep.

I glanced over at the clock besides my bed, 5:38AM. Ah, so a sleep in. I laughed at myself, the sad moment when it was 5:38 in the morning and I considered it a sleep in. I thought about what to do today, since I really didn't have to do anything. If I wanted to, I could just lie in bed all day. Not that I would, let's be serious, I can't stay still for that long. I could go wake up Stark, which would be sure to annoy him seeing how he hated mornings. I dismissed that idea, not wanting to see his face and ruin my day so early. Save that for after breakfast. Maybe I could go find Rogers and see if I could train with him. No, I'm fairly sure that Banner and Barton already thought something was going on between the two of us; I didn't need them to think that Rogers and I were rendezvousing early in the morning.

So that I didn't disturb Kitten in her sleep, I slipped out of bed as quietly as possible. A soft, pale light was slowly filling the room as I stood, staring out the large window at the ocean outside. A sudden idea popped into my head. I think I know what I'm going to do today.

"Hey Jarvis" I called out to the AI as I stared out at the window at the waves crashing at the shore.

"Yes Miss Evans?" Jarvis asked.

"Does my father have any surfboards?" I asked as I tried to remember if he did, and if so where they were.

"Yes Miss. 5 in total, 1 foam board, 2 long boards, 1 gun board and 1 short board"

"What's the size of the short board and what condition is it in?" I asked, already planning my route out to the beach and pondering if I should wake Kitten up to let her know where I was going.

"The short board is 6 feet and 1 inch long, 17 inches wide and has 3 fins, and I believe that while it has not been used for some time, it is in fairly good condition"

"Tell me Jarvis" I said with a grin on my face, already getting changed "what's the waves like out there?"

**Wow seven chapters already, time goes fast. Once again, thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing I love you all so much :) I'll give you a virtual cookie hey? Now I should really go and study for my history exam for monday. Yeah, word of advice, don't study history. Just don't. **


	8. Chapter 8 Morning Surf

Chapter 8 - Morning Surf

Tony stumbled into the kitchen at 8am the next morning and head straight to the coffee machine and poured himself an incredibly strong coffee. Romanoff, Barton and Banner sat around the kitchen table, eating breakfast whilst the captain was presumably off for his morning run and the demi-god was off doing god knows what. Tony finished his first cup of coffee and started with his second without delay. If there was anything the avengers had learnt about Tony Stark it was that the man relied heavily on coffee in the mornings to see him on his way.

"Where's Claire?" Stark asked around the table after noticing that his daughter was not present as he sat down with the others.

"No idea" Banner said, Romanoff just shrugged and Barton just shook his head.

"She's gone sir" Jarvis told his maker.

"WHAT?" Tony shouted "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE? SHE RAN AWAY? WHAT IF SHE-"

"If you had let me finish my sentence sir, then I could inform you that Miss Evans is down at the beach" Jarvis stated.

"Why to over react Stark, you worried about your little girl?" Bruce said with a grin on his face, amused by Tony's reaction.

"What the hell do you mean she's at the beach?" Tony questioned the AI, ignoring Banners comment

"This morning at 5:38am Miss Evans inquired as to whether you owned any surfboards, upon informing her that you did, she then inquired to the conditions of the waves today. She then proceeded to collect a surfboard then left the mansion at 5:53am and headed towards the beach, I presume that Miss Evans is still there" Jarvis stated, this seemed to only confuse Tony even more.

"Claire can surf?" he asked.

"How should we know" Clint said "she's your kid"

"Jarvis, I want a visual on her" Stark ordered as he walked over a wall and tapped it. A blue screen filled with writing appeared from nowhere "use the security cameras on the south-east side of the mansion closest to the ocean"

"As you wish sir" Jarvis said, suddenly an image of the ocean appeared on the screen in front of Tony. Claire sat on a surfboard about 100 meters from the shore in a white bikini. Her hair was lose and pushed back from her face as she stared out at the waves coming in. She appeared younger and more innocent, as if out in the ocean away from others she could let some of her defences down.

It was clear though from her toned and muscled body that was littered with small, pale scars that shinned in the sunlight who she was and what she did. There wasn't an ounce of fat on her body and her stomach was defined with the clear lines of a six pack. Just then a grin appeared on her face as she lay down on the surfboard and started to paddle towards the shore. A wave began to form behind her and formed momentum as it grew to a meter and a half high. Claire pushed her torso up of the board, then a second later she quickly jumped up into a crouching position and without a moment's hesitation into a standing position. It was clear from the grin on her face and the ease of which she controlled the board that she was an experienced surfer.

"When the hell did she learn how to surf?" Tony mumbled, staring at his daughter.

"Look, I know she's your daughter and all, and she's like 10 years younger than me" Barton said, also staring at the S.H.I.E.L.D agent "but she is really hot"

"Of course she's good looking" Stark said "she's my daughter"

"And of course you would turn that into something extremely arrogant" Natasha said as she rolled her eyes.

"Barton is about as sexually threatening to Claire as a lamp" Tony commented as the four of them all watched as Claire continued to surf wave after wave but slowly headed back to the shore. Just as Claire reached the shore and picked up the board, Rogers jogged up the beach. Tony frowned as he watched the captain slowly jog up to Claire. Knowing Rogers, Tony expected him to be embarrassed being around a female that actually showed skin. But Steve hesitated only slightly before walking up to Claire.

"What the hell is Spangles doing?" Tony muttered as he watched him and Claire start to talk. Tony half hoped that Claire would treat the captain in the same manner as the man from the bar the other night, but her only reaction was a smile.

"Don't worry Stark, Rogers and Claire have been in a worse situation before" Banner stated and Barton nodded his head in agreement.

"WHAT?"

I couldn't help but grin as I soaked in the sun and surfed the morning waves. Even after all this time, it felt as natural as breathing to get back onto a board and surf again. Out in the ocean, I felt a sense of calmness and ease that I didn't feel on land. Maybe it was because I felt safer out in the ocean, as if the water somehow protected me from the constant threats of my life. The waves built up underneath me and I smoothly transitioned to a standing position and flew along the wave. I flicked up the nose of the board up towards the air and flipped the board around in mid-air a perfect 360 spin. As I landed, the wave began to die down and I jumped off the board and into the water. I stayed submerged under the waves for a moment, allowing the water to relax me.

When my lungs started protesting for air, I kicked my legs and floated to the surface. I swam over to my board which had floated a few feet away and as I pulled myself back onto the board I noticed a figure jogging down the beach staring at me. Rogers. I lay down and started to slowly paddle my way to the shore. So much for not rendezvousing early in the morning with the guy, but it's not like Banner or Barton or anyone will find out and take anything from it. I mean, it's not like their spying on me or anything.

I couldn't help but notice that as hard as the captain tried, he couldn't help but look at my direction. Well, I could at least give him a bit of a show. Making the action as sexual as possible I quickly got in front of an incoming wave and stood up. Glancing at the beach, it was easy to tell that I had the man's attention. I pulled as many tricks as I could on the wave before moving to the shore to intercept Rogers. When the water was only about 2 feet deep and I stood up and pushed my hair back of my face and grinned at the solider.

"Good morning!" I called out as I picked up the board and stepped onto the beach.

"Morning ma'am" Steve said in reply as he slowly walked up to him. He paused only slightly this time compared to the last time he had seen me in a revealing outfit. Anyone watching would start to think that I was trying to seduce the poor man, I swear that I wasn't. I had promised myself that I could look, but not touch. There was only a slight blush on his cheeks this morning, though that could easily be from his run. Huh, looks like the captain was getting used to the 21st century and all its wonders. He would have been living at Stark Mansion for about 3 weeks now, and if his morning runs where a habit, then he would have to be used to seeing girls in bikinis by now. Maybe I would have to start working harder to get a blush out of him.

Oh dear god, I'm starting to sound like my father.

**Hello :) Sorry it took me a while to get this chapter out. Blame school, my teachers all thought that it would be a fantastic idea to give me assignments all in the one week -.- My life is increadinbly busy at the moment but hopefully it will all calm down soon so I can right more :) **

**Please let me know what you think of the story! If you have any criticism please let me know, that way I can improve my writing so it's better for you guys :) **

**Of course, thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed and all that jazz, I love you all :3 **

**Love, Fly 3 **


	9. Chapter 9 Don't Need Anyone

Chapter 9 Don't Need Anyone

My board lay somewhat forgotten in the sand behind us as Steve and I sat on the beach and talked.

"I must say, you're very skilled" Rogers said "I'm beginning to think that there's nothing you can't do" I laughed at this.

"Were you watching me?" I asked, pretending as if I didn't already know the answer to my question.

"You're a very good surfer, good form" he said quickly.

"Oh, where you watching my form or my body Rogers?" I asked slyly. I couldn't help but laugh as a deep red blush coated his cheeks and he stumbled over his words.

"I'm sorry, that was mean" I said, continuing to smile. A real smile as well, not a fake one that I forced most times. With Rogers, it was just easy. I had spent most of my life, building and perfecting the wall around me, pushing others away. But it was disturbing and almost frightening how easily the captain managed to push down my walls as if they were made of nothing but air.

"I'm sorry, but I'm still having a hard time believing that you're a S.H.I.E.L.D agent ma'am" Steve said, looking at me "You're too… sweet" I raised an eyebrow at him, I had pinned him, Captain America, in a fight, and he thought I was sweet? Wow either this guy was blind or he was just really charming… or that he just wanted in my pants and he knew how to seduce a woman, and my god was it working. And he probably wasn't even trying. Son of a bitch.

"You can just call me Claire by the way" I told him, it slipped out before I could even think about what I had just said. I was horrified at myself. DAMN IT EVANS! You are not having sex with this guy; you are not even becoming friends with him, so pull your head in and suck it up!

"Well, Claire" he said, I couldn't help but feel excited as he said my name for what I believe to be the first time "tell me how you did become an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D" I frowned as I tried to remember how I did become an agent, it had been so long ago and I rarely talked about it or even think about it honestly.

"Nick Fury created S.H.I.E.L.D after WWII" I explained "one of the first Agents was my grandfather. When my mother was born she was trained to be an agent, so when I was born it only made sense that I would be trained as an agent as well. Some of my first memories where at S.H.I.E.L.D training."

"So you're only an agent because of your family?" Steve asked me sounding confused.

"I suppose so" I said, I had never really thought about it before "if it weren't for my family, I guess that I wouldn't have never been an agent" I wondered what my life had been like if I had been born to another family, any other family.

"You shouldn't have to do something just because of your family" Captain protested.

"It's not like I'm forced to be an agent or anything" I told him as I wiggled my toes in the sand. My hair was dry by now and curled loosely to my lower back; I pulled a strand over my shoulder and played with the ends. Huh, looks like I need a haircut. This was the first time since I was about 8 I had long hair, for the past 13 years I had just kept my hair short. "I choose to be a part of S.H.I.E.L.D, I could leave any time" and I will. I added silently, but not just now.

"So why don't you?" Rogers questioned softly. A frown formed on his face and my stomach dropped slightly, was it really that obvious that I didn't want to be an agent? I forced that thought to the back of my mind, there's no point thinking about it now. Maybe a few years down the track, but not now.

"I… owe Fury a debt" I said quietly as I focused out on the horizon, not wanting to look at the man besides me who was staring at me with what looked like sadness in his eyes.

"He…" was I really going to tell him? Something that was so close and personal to me, something that only Fury, Lucious and I knew about. "Fury… sa-"Just then a small black and white cat ran up to us and jumped into my lap, her claws digging into my bare skin as she landed. Kitten. That little bitch.

Steve stared at the cat as I sighed. Way to kill the moment Kitten, not that there was a moment going on or anything, I told myself harshly.

"I should have left you at S.H.I.E.L.D" I told the small fur ball as she climbed around on my lap before settling in a sitting position staring up at Rogers with her large blue eyes.

"You have a pet cat?" Rogers asked, a grin spreading across his face.

"Yeah" I sighed "pain in the ass" Kitten hissed at me and dug her claws into my leg again.

"What's his name?" Steve asked as he reached over and scratched her behind her ear. Instantly her claws retracted out of my leg and a soft purring sound could be heard. Yep, Kitten is definitely turning to a little whore for pats.

"She" I corrected "and her name is Kitten." Rogers burst out laughing at this.

"What?" I asked frowning. What was he laughing at?

"Nothing" Steve said smiling at me "it's just that's not a very creative name" he then stood up and held out a hand to help me. I hesitated slight, not used to being offered help. Being an assassin, no one ever offered help, always presuming that you were fine. And I was, but it was just… a nice gesture…

Steve sensed my hesitation and went to pull his hand back, but not before I slowly lifted my hand up. Rogers smiled reassuringly at me and I couldn't help but smile softly back. My hand easily fit into his and he gently pulled me up, Kitten feel to the ground as I stood, forgotten about. I stood to my full height but Steve still towered over me. I glanced up to him and all thought disappeared from my mind when I came conscious of how close we were. Steve stood there in silence as he stared into my eyes. Huh, I had never noticed just how blue his eyes where…

I quickly stepped back and pulled my hand from his, cursing at myself. I turned and picked up my board and quickly walked back to the Mansion, trying to avoid Steve's eyes at all cost.

"Claire…" Steve said softly as he gently grabbed onto my arm, stopping me.

"I would prefer it if you didn't use my first name Rogers" I hissed as I pulled my arm free and headed as quickly as I could towards from the Mansion. Tears threatened to fall as they built up behind my eyes but I forced them back, determined not to be weak.

You are an assassin. I told myself. You don't need anyone, your fine on your own.

Steve stared after me as I slipped back into the Mansion, but stayed on the beach.

You don't need anyone. Not your father and certainly not a pretty boy.

I only need my weapons and a kitten to watch my back and that's all.

**Hope everyone is liking the story! Yeah, I had to add that bit where Claire's a bitch and pushes Steve away. Don't hate me, the way I see it, Claire's an assassin and has spent years pushing everyone away, she's not gonna just madly fall in love and confese her love for Steve after knowing him for what, 2-3 days? This isnt Twilight people, I wanted their relationship based on something more than just a few days of knowing each other and don't worry, there will be plently of romance later :)**

**(p.s, hope the twilight thing didnt affend anyone! But seriously? Bella and Edward knew each other for barely anytime, and in New Moon when Edward left, she fell apart and tried to kill herself just to hear his . Crazy ass shit)**

**Thanks to every who reviewed and favourit-ed and everything! You are amazing! **

**Love,Fly.**


	10. Chapter 10 Fighting

I slipped into the Mansion the same way I had gotten out, through a door out the back of the garage that led to a path down the cliff and to the beach. I leant the surfboard up against the wall before leaning my forehead against the cool wall and closing my eyes. What the hell was I getting myself into?

"So there you are" a voice accused from behind me. My eyes flew open and I span around to face my father standing there with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.

"What the fuck do you want?" I growled. Kitten ran into the room and stood by my feet, the cat version of a glare on her face that was directed at me.

"What the hell is up with you?" Tony questioned, glaring at me. Kitten turned to hiss at Tony, the fur on her back rising up. "And what the hell is wrong with that cat? Something's not right with it"

"Something isn't right with the cat, but that's not the point." I snapped as I saw Thor and Banner enter the room out of the corner of my eye but I paid no attention to them. The rational part of my mind was telling me to calm down, but that small, quiet rational part was being drowned out by the erratic and aggravated part of my mind. And that part was telling me to explode with rage, and I currently felt like listening to that part.

"What the hell is the point?" Tony asked.

"The point is you're an ass and I hate you?" I suggested with a shrug. I took a deep breath; anger won't solve anything I argued with myself, it will only make things work. I headed towards the door to escape the insufferable presence of my father.

"The cat needs to go!" Tony called out, sounding pissed. I stopped walking. Oh hell no.

"What?" I hissed softly. Natasha and Clint joined Bruce and Thor and the four of them stared at my father and me warily.

"The cat" Tony repeated "get rid of it or I will" he threated. Oh screw the 'anger will solve nothing' bullshit, anger will fucking solve everything. I span around to face my father and stared at him.

"If you so much touch a single hair on her head, and I will kill you." I said slowly and clearly, 100 precent serious.

"Don't throw around threats you can't keep" Tony snapped at me. I could tell that, just as I was, Tony was just getting angrier and angrier. My father wasn't one to back down from a fight, and neither was I.

"Do you want me to prove that I can kill someone Tony?" I growled "because it's easy. In case you forgot, I'm a fucking assassin, I've killed more than you have" Banner stepped forward with his arms up in front of him, as if too separate us.

"I think that's enough now" Banner said cautiously.

"Oh, so you're a murder now?" Tony asked, taking a step towards me, both us completely and utterly ignoring Banner and the others. Blood rushed around my body as my rage mounted and I ignored all else except for the man in front of me, the man who had threatened Kitten. The man I now wanted to kill.

"At least I've never killed innocent people" I snapped. Oh yeah, Evans, hit him where it hurts, the rational part of my mind told me sarcastically while the irrational part of my mind cheered my on.

"That was not my fault" Tony yelled as he took a step closer to me.

"Your name was on the weapons!" I screamed as I closed the distance between us until he was in striking range.

"Not my fault!" Stark repeated "and I want that cat fucking gone by the end of the week. It's just a bloody cat, get over it!" At this point, something inside of my just snapped, just a cat?

"No fucking way in hell 'father'" I screamed in his face, father? Ha! Tony had never been anything like that to me "Kitten has been there for me more than you ever have, so don't think I'll just dump her when you click your fingers"

"What the hell are you talking about? I've been there for you!" Tony shouted.

"Bullshit you have!" I screamed. Every little thing that I had been holding back for the past 10 years came spilling out. All the hate, all the pain, all the anger. "Before this week, we hadn't spoken for 8 years! You haven't sent me a birthday present for 5!"

"It's not my fault we haven't spoken!" Tony yelled "you choose to leave and not come back! And it's not my fucking fault I forgot your birthday!"

"No Christmas presents, no phone call! Nothing!" I screamed. I wanted to hurt him, the way he had hurt me for so long. "You haven't wanted anything to do with me for years! You never wanted me!"

"Of course I never fucking wanted you!" Tony roared "YOU WERE A FUCKING MISTAKE!"

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?!" I screamed, all was all too much. It was one thing believing that your father never wanted you, and another entirely to hear him say it. I lunged forward and swung my fist into his jaw. We both fell to the floor and I continued to punch him with everything I had. I was blinded with rage and wanted to hurt him, and badly. Suddenly there was a pair of arms around my waist and Thor pulled my off my father.

"Let go of me!" I snarled, fighting to free myself from the demi-gods arms. Just as Tony got back to his feet and wiped a trail of blood from his jaw, I managed to break free and stepped towards my father. Thor stepped besides me and placed a hand on my shoulder, ready to restrain me if necessary.

"I wish you had never been born" Tony growled, glaring at me. I glared back; the only emotion on my father's face was rage, fury and anger. I shoved Thor's hand off my shoulder and bent down to scope up Kitten who was at my feet.

"Well that makes two of us now, doesn't it?" I said under my breath as I turned and fled from the room.

No one attempted to stop me.

**Wow, 10 chapters already! It was a little bit weird writing this chapter, it is probably the angriest thing I've ever written before. I went over it heaps before I was happy with it, while blasting Slipnot and Parkway Drive through my headphones to get me angry enough! I think my dog was a little bit frightened by how angry I was while writing this. When writing, my emotions deffintly control the emotions and how the chapter goes, so yeah lots of anger in this chapter! Hope you liked it, dont' be afraid to tellme what you think critisims is welcome :)**

**Love, Fly.**


	11. Chapter 11 Pepper Returns

I ran into my room and slammed the door shut. Kitten jumped from my arms and ran to the shelter of my bed as I paced around the room for a moment before grabbing one of the pillows on my bed and screamed into it. God, he just made me so angry. And feel so worthless. Nothing made me so full of rage than my father.

I threw the pillow across the room and walked up to the wall and just punched as hard as I could. A hole appeared in the wall and I felt all the small and delicate bones in my hand give way under the pressure. Pain shot up my arm from my hand, but it only fuelled my anger. I kicked the bed leg and screamed in pain and rage. Then the door to my room opened and a pair of green eyes stared out as me as Pepper Potts hid behind the door.

"Hey Claire" Pepper said quietly, remaining half hidden behind the door.

"Pepper?" I panted surprised, and a wave of guilt washed through me causing my rage to subside. Pepper had always been kind to me whenever I visited Stark Mansion, and I had genuinely liked her. After my mother died, she was one of the few people who looked after me, not because that she had to, but because she actually wanted to. No matter how busy Pepper was, she always seemed to make time for me whenever I visited. And in all honesty, I hadn't given her a moment's thought for years.

Pepper slowly walked into the room and looked around. In my rage I had thrown most of my belongings across the room and I felt embarrassed and regretted that I had lost control like that, not because that I had yelled at my father or hit him, but because my hand was now hurting like a bitch, I would have a massive mess to clean up later, and because Pepper, someone who I looked up to, had witnessed me just as I lost control.

"You okay?" Pepper asked, I just snorted in response and started to pick up the pillows I had thrown and chucked them back onto my bed.

"Oh yeah" I said as I collapsed on my bed "just fine" I muttered as I rolled over onto my stomach and stared out at the ocean. The waves looked just the same as before, to think it wasn't even an hour ago I was out on those waves felling as if I were on top of the world.

Pepper sat down next to me and slowly stroked my hair and I had to force myself not to cry. I shoved Peppers hand and moved away from her. Isolate yourself and you'll be fine, I told myself.

"Claire…" Pepper said softly, a quiet sadness clear in her voice. Kitten walked over to Pepper and sat in her laps. She stared up at the woman and meowed softly.

"This is the cat Tony wanted you to get rid of?" Pepper questioned as she started to scratch Kitten behind the ears.

"Yep, that's Kitten" I told her.

"But she's so cute!" Pepper protested, I silently agreed with her as I rolled off the bed and grabbed my suitcases and started gather my things from around the room and throw them in.

"What are you doing?" Pepper asked frowning.

"I swear I tried getting along with that jerk" I said, continuing to throw all my belongings into the suitcases. How the hell did I manage to make so much mess in such a short time? "But I can't do it, I can't live with him. I'm leaving."

"Claire, just think about this for a moment" Pepper said "you-"she started to say but then broke off and a frown formed on her face "what did you do to your hand?" she asked. I almost laughed, it took her this long to realize? I held up my hand in front of me, already it was starting to bruise and swell up.

"I punched the wall" I said factually. I gestured over to the wall where I had punched before with my good hand. Opps, maybe I had hit it a little bit too hard, the hole was bigger than I first thought and a crack had formed in the wall from the hole towards the roof. Pepper gently grabbed my hand and inspected the self-inflicted wound.

"It's broken" I informed her and I wiggled my fingers, or attempted to at least "I'm fairly sure that the carpometacarpal joint is dislocated, the metacarpopalangeal joint of my index and second finger are smashed and the middle phalanx of my fourth finger is broken" I concluded. Pepper just stared at me blankly.

"My hands pretty much fucked" I summarised.

"Watch your language" Pepper scolded me. I rolled my eyes, Pepper honestly was the closest that I had to a parent now. She gently picked up Kitten and placed her on the bed and stood up.

"Come on, we need to fix your hand" Pepper said as she pulled me up to a standing position.

"My hand is fine" I said mildly, all my anger from before had pretty much just vanished. My hatred for my father was still there loud and strong, but that was a constant in my life. Pepper always had that effect on me, calming me down. When I was younger, whenever Tony and I fought (which was often) Pepper would always come in and cool us down.

"Claire" Pepper sighed "your hand is broken you need-"

"What I need is to hurry up and leave this hell hole" I said "my hand is fine" I protested, and though it wasn't at the moment I knew that it would be soon enough.

"Clarissa Jane Evens" Pepper said sternly. Oh dear god, did I really just get called by my full name?

"Virginia Potts" I said with a serious expression on my face and I was met with an equally serious expression. It was clear that Pepper was not going to back down on this one. I sighed, as I considered my options and contemplated what would be the easiest way out of here. "Not that I need help, and your being stupid, but if I get someone to look at my stupid hand, which is fine! Will you let me leave here in peace?" I asked.

Pepper was silent for a moment, thinking about what I said.

"I don't know about you leaving in peace, but sure" she said. Fine, get my stupid hand fixed and then I would grab Kitten and get the hell out of here.

"Make sure no one comes in here, and if anyone does and tries to touch my stuff, claw their eyes out" I instructed Kitten who meowed her acknowledgement and curled up in a ball.

"Good, now let's go see Banner about your hand"

"FUCK NO! THAT WAS NOT PART OF THE AGREEMENT!"

"Watch your language young lady!"

**My god, you guys are incredible. Over 20 reviews, over 60 followers, over 45 favourites. Words can not discribe how gratefull I am for you guys. No matter how bad my day has been, it could have a been completly terrible but I can come home and I see a new review or that another person is following and it just... makes everything better. As chessy as it sounds its true :)**

**Oh, at horse riding today I jumped at almost olympic height! Only 10cm short! So hey, next olympics I may compete for Australia :3 I seriously doubt it though, I dont have the self-discipline or control for that type of serious training! (Besides the horse that I ride is way to lazy and would hate all the training, plus I hate dressage :P ) Haha but still it was awesome :3 Have you guys been watching the olympics at all? I have! Last time I checked Australia was coming 19th but I'm still so proud of all the athletes :3 I love how all the countries can put aside their differences and come togethere and play. If only it could last hey? No more war. Yeah, now the humanitarian (or what my friends say, 'my inner hippy') in me is coming out so thats my cue to go! **

**Love, Fly. **


	12. Chapter 12 Life of Lies

Chapter 12 - Life of Lies

I was currently sitting on a table in one of the many labs with my hand under a miniature x-ray machine. After another hour of disagreeing and arguments, Pepper had finally managed to convince me to get dressed and drag my ass down to a lab so Banner could inspect my hand. So now I was here, sitting now in a pair of jeans and a grey tank top, the x-ray machine did its thing, as Pepper tried to convince me to stay. My hand was now more or less fine, but I was still trying to come up with a reason about why my hand had healed so quickly. I quickly discarded telling the truth and was running a number of possible lies through my head. Pepper knew that my hand is, or was, broken so I would need to come up with something quick. I had one thing to be thankful for at least though, my father was nowhere to be seen and also no one else had mentioned the fight, until now that is.

"He didn't mean what he said Claire" Pepper said. I sighed, was she really going to do this?

"Yes he did Pepper" I said. Banner glanced up from the x-rays he now had in his hand and stared at me, a frown on his face.

"It's fine, not like I care" I lied, trying to convince everyone in the room though probably failing miserably.

"You sure Claire's hand was broken Pepper?" the Hulk said frowning as he walked up to the two of us, an x-ray in his hand.

"Positive" Pepper said, taking the x-ray off Bruce and inspecting it. "There was a bone almost poking through the skin." Yeah, key word there Pepper, was.

"Well, her hand is fine now; all that's wrong is that her knuckles are slightly bruised." Banner said with a small shrug, sounding confused. He believed Pepper when she said that my hand was broken, but now it clearly wasn't.

"I told you my hand is fine Pepper" I stated as I jumped off the table "so I'll just be leaving now…"

Pepper placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. I held back another sigh; she really wasn't going to make it easy for me.

"Your hand was broken Claire" Pepper said, trying to look me in the eye "what happened?"

"I heal quickly" I mumbled and brushed her hand off.

"No one heals that quickly" Banner protested.

"Well I do" I snapped. For the love of god, couldn't they just let me live my life filled with lies in peace?

"Jarvis, can you please create a 3-D hologram of Claire's skeleton about 2 hours ago just after she punched the wall?" Pepper asked the AI. Was she really pulling Jarvis into this?

"As you wish Miss Potts" Jarvis replied, as a blue hologram started to form in front of us. I stood there with my mouth hanging open. It was me, or my skeleton at least, life size. Everything was completely accurate, down to the scars on my lift ribs.

"Okay, that is freaking awesome" I muttered, and then I glanced down at my fist. Yep just as I thought, the carpometacarpal joint dislocated, the metacarpopalangeal joint of my index and second finger smashed and the middle phalanx of my fourth finger broken, and that's not so awesome.

"Miss Evans broke her left hand at 9:43am, cause: punching her bedroom wall" Jarvis informed us, well Jarvis would officially be the best stalker ever. "However" the A.I continued; shut your mouth Jarvis! I shouted in my head. "Miss Evans hand only has slight bruising across her knuckles, it appears her healing rate is roughly 15 times faster than that of normal-"

"Okay!" I said loudly "thank you for that Jarvis!" if anyone figured out the truth about me, there would be hell to pay. "So clearly my hand is fine Pepper, and I'll just be on my way" I continued, heading towards the door. Grab Kitten and go. I told myself. No goodbyes, no nothing.

"Claire!" Pepper called out. She will not change my mind, I chanted over and over in my head, she will not… "I haven't seen you for years and now you're just leaving?" Oh, son of a bitch.

"Pepper, don't do this to me" I muttered under my breath.

"Please stay Claire?" Pepper begged. I turned to face her, which was probably one of the worst things I could have done. Pepper stared at me with sadness in her eyes.

"You're a bitch" I informed her, Pepper let out a small cheer knowing she had won and Bruce chuckled slightly. "I just want you to know that I will hate every second I am here"

"I think I'll live" Pepper said smiling. "Now just one more thing-"

"Two more things" Bruce interrupted her.

"Two more things" Pepper agreed.

"How did you heal so fast?"

"And go talk to your father"

"GO FUCK YOURSELVES!"

...

Pepper had managed to convince me to stay. The next week and a half I sulked around Stark Mansion. I avoided my father at all costs. I isolated myself from the demi-god who offered friendship. I trained by myself as I attempted to ignore Hawkeye and Black Widow. I pushed away the Hulk and his questions. Kitten slept.

But most of all, I made sure to stay away from the one and only, Captain America.

**Sorry this chapters a bit shorter than normal, but I will make it up to you next chapter? :3**

**As per usual, thank you all for reviewing, reading, following. You are all freaking awesome and I love you just as much as my dog. Thats a hell of a lot. **

**Cause I love you guys so much, I'm going to give you a challenge, and if you complete the challenge I will give you a prize.**

**So my best friend (in real life, yeah I have friends outside of the internet, its bloody weird) has a fanfiction account and her user name is Kasumi-Chou and she has an Avengers fanfiction, called 101 Guide To Falling In Love With Superhero's. **

**(so fanfiction is being... poo... and wont let me paste a link to it, you can find it though in my lists favourites) **

**One of the characters is based on me. Now my challenge is, can you figure out which one? :P  
I'll give you all a hint, it wouldnt not be wise to lie to her. **

**If somone correctly guesses which character is based on me, I will... share ****20 random facts about me? Yeah, lamest prize over. **

**Hehe, good luck! **

**Love, Fly. **


	13. Chapter 13 Mission: Destroy Iron Man

Cha[ter 13 Mission: Destroy Iron Man

A sigh escaped my lips as I glared up at a cabinet above my head, the kitchen was deserted at the moment, making it an ideal time to make my breakfast. I was in the midst of making a fruit smoothy and was trying to reach the cup I wanted. Trying. The cup I wanted was located in a cabinet above the stove, far out of my reach. I really hate being short sometimes.

"I hate this place" I muttered to myself as I climbed onto the bench and kneeling, reached for the cup, just out of my reach. My fingertips just scrapping the edge of the cup.

"Come on" I muttered, stretching my arm as far as I could. I managed to snag a hold of the glass only for a brief moment before it slipped out of my fingers. Forgetting that I was currently balanced on the edge of the bench, I swore and shoot out my arm in attempt to grab the cup before it could hit the ground, upsetting my balance. Before I could fall, the glass fell into a hand as an arm wrapped around my back, steading me. I froze as I felt a muscular chest pressed up against my back and a steady heartbeat. It couldn't be, could it?

"You should be more careful" he muttered in my ear. It had been two weeks since I last spoke to him, and it had been going so well. I had almost managed to convince myself that I had no feelings for the male what so ever. Almost.

As his voice washed over me, so did a wave of guilt. Steve Rogers had been nothing but a gentleman to me and I turned around and shoved it in his face. Steve gently pulled me off the bench until my feet were placed firmly on the ground. I turned around in his arms to face him and gazed up at his eyes. For some reason, I expected his eyes to be different. I expected to see a harshness or maybe pain in them. But no, the Captains eyes where the same gentle blue filled with kindness in them as before. He really wasn't going to make this easy for me, was he?

Steve and I were silent as his arm remained wrapped around my waist, holding me close to his body. When he dropped his arm and stepped away, the only thing I wanted to do was close the distance between us and be back in his arms. I quickly shook that thought from my head, if I followed along with that train of thought, it would not end well. Steve placed my glass on the bench beside me, quickly smiled at me and turned on his heel and started to walk away.

"Rogers, wait!" I called out softly. Steve turned around to face me and looked me in the eye, honest and open. Like a true gentleman.

"I uh" I mumbled "about the other day…" why the hell was I so bad at this. I wanted to apologise, knew that it was the right thing to do and that the Captain deserved it, but still I couldn't say those simple words. My pride wouldn't let me.

"It's fine, you have no need to apologise ma'am" he said, smiling at me once again. Seriously, why the hell was he so nice? "I pushed you too far, I stepped over the line and my behaviour was unacceptable" Wait… what? Why was he apologising to me? He hadn't done anything wrong; he hadn't been a total bitch.

"No" I shook my head as I interrupted him "you were just being nice, and I was rude" seriously brain? That was the best apology you could come up with? Brilliant. Just brilliant.

"You have nothing to apologise for, the fault is all on me" the captain said simply, he smiled at me once again and walked away. I just stood there in silence, my god damn pride stopping me from calling him back and apologising properly. I groaned and closed my eyes. What the hell was I doing?

…

At the beginning of my stay at Stark Mansion, I loved how there was no strict routine for me to follow, but at 2 and a half weeks on, I was bored out of my mind. It's not like I expected to fight off villains and save the world every other day, but nothing, absolutely nothing in two and a half weeks? I mean, come on! What's a girl to do when she's not off being a spy and killing the bad guys? Or on a second thought, maybe I just get bored too easily…

Pepper had been on my back, trying to get me and my father to talk. She was forever trying to be the peace maker and 'improve' our father/daughter relationship. Personally, I think that Tony's and I relationship was fine just how it was, filled with anger and resentment. So I had gone for a walk around the city to escape the Mansion and its residents for a while. After an hour or so of aimlessly wondering, I headed back to the Mansion. To avoid the possibility of being seen and socialising I headed round to the back, only to freeze.

There was a young man, probably mid-20's, he was tall around 5'9" I guess, and had this look of being underfeed. His dark brown hair was messy and dishevelled, clothed in jeans and a jacket that looked like they had seen better days. His back was to me as he franticly tried to punch in the code to the alarm system. I sighed, pondering what was better, being bored shitless out of my mind or having to deal with petty thieves. I silently walked up to the man and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Can I help you?" I asked. The man swore colourfully and span around and threw a punch at me which was only too easy to dodge. The man continued to attempt to try to land a blow on me, I shoved my hands in my pockets and evaded his attacks with ease.

"You know, trying to break into Stark Mansion probably isn't the best of ideas" I informed the man, it was easy to tell that the man had very little training in fighting and just as little expertise in breaking and entering.

"Shut up you bitch" the man snarled "don't talk as if you know everything" for a moment I felt a little sorry for the man, he was clearly desperate and he was about to get his ass kicked. But the part was only very small and easy for me to ignore.

"What the hell is going on back here?" A voice grumbled. Hawkeye. And judging by the number of footsteps, most of the other avengers as well.

"Thieve, trying to break in!" I called out just as the others rounded the corner. I grew tired of simply dodging the man and swept my feet along the ground catching the man's legs in the processes. The man landed on the ground winded, and a placed a foot on his back. Yeah, he wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

….

The man sat down on a chair in the dining room as we crowded around him. Half of me wanted to just let him go and not bother questioning the man, but the other half was kinda curious as to why he was trying to break into the Mansion. Kitten ran up to me and jumped into my arms.

"This could get interesting" I muttered to her and she meowed in response. A few of the others shot me a worried glance. Over the past few weeks, most the avengers had caught me having a conversation with Kitten, which probably cause them to question my sanity. Not that it bothers me, hell; I question my own sanity at times. Who wouldn't when your Tony Starks reject daughter who kills for a living?

"What's your name?" Tony asked the man "and no lies or I swear you will regret it." Well, Tony clearly wasn't too happy.

"Daniel Wright" the man muttered glaring at the ground. Good, I thought to myself, he wouldn't be very hard to get answers out of. I may be a cold hearted killer and a total bitch to my only family member who was still alive, but I'm not the biggest fan of torture.

"Why were you trying to break in?" Barton asked staring at the man; he tossed a knife up into the air and caught it with ease as he sized Daniel up.

"I had to!" Daniel said quickly, staring at the knife in fear "I had no choice" No choice? I raised an eyebrow. You always have a choice.

"What do you mean?" Thor question as he crossed his arms and frowned at the man in front of us, a bead of sweat ran down his face.

"I had to! He said he could kill my sister if I didn't!" Daniel cried out, sounding desperate "you have to believe me" I frowned at the man, as far as I could tell, Daniel was telling the truth. Shit, this means that things could get very interesting.

"Who did?" Natasha asked, sounding suspicious but I could tell that, just like I did, she believed what Daniel had said. Daniel licked his lips and his eyes shot around the room. I could tell just from those few moments of watching him that the pressure was starting to get to him.

"Just tell us" Steve said softly "it will only be worse if you don't"

"Who is 'he' and what did he want you do to?" I asked Daniel. His shoulders slumped as he slumped in his chair and sighed in defeat.

"He calls himself Kuchiku-kan… he told me to… destroy Ironman"

Everyone froze, including me, my eyes widening in surprise as my stomach dropped. Someone was… after Tony? I mean, whatever, not like I care or anything, if that bastard is stupid enough to get himself killed than that's not my problem. I don't care.

"Kuckiku-kan kidnapped my little sister Rachael, he said that if I managed to break into Stark Mansion and hack into the AI system and take over one of the Iron Man suits then he would her live, if I didn't do what he said than Rachael…" Daniel explained miserably, staring at his hands. He sound like a desperate man pushed to his edge. Tony moved into the kitchen and gestured for the rest of us to follow him, I shot Daniel one last look before I walked into the kitchen. Tony rubbed a hand over his face, looking stressed.

"We need to notify S.H.I.E.L.D" Steve said with a sigh. We all nodded in agreement; as much as I wished we could let Daniel I knew that we couldn't.

"I'll go do that now" Barton said, pulling a phone out his pocket as he walked out of the room.

"Anyone know who the hell this 'Kuchiku-kan' is?" Tony asked.

"Sounds Chinese" Barton said with a frown.

"Japanese" I said inserted quickly, all eyes turned to me. "Its Japanese, means 'destroyer'" I explained.

"Anyone who hates you and would enjoy kicking your ass, Stark?" Natasha asked. I raised my hand, which earned me a few laughs.

"I was serious" I muttered under my breath as I racked my brains to who this 'Kuchiku-kan' could be.

"I know none of your Earth enemies man of iron" Thor informed us, though I barely hard him. I chewed on a nail, deep in thought.

"We should get Clint to check with S.H.I.E.L.D and see if they have anything" Bruce suggested.

"We may not need to" I said quickly "I don't know who this 'Kuchiku-kan is, but I do know someone else who might"

"Really, who?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.

"His name is Jushiro" I said "and if Kuchiku-kan is Japanese, than Jushiro will know about it"

"What makes you think that?" Natasha asked me frowning.

"He's in the Japanese mafia."

"WHAT?! YOU KNOW SOMEONE IN THE JAPANESE MAFIA?!" my father shouted at me. I sighed, irritated. Why the hell was my father so annoying?

**Hi everyone :) Hope everyones enjoying the story. **

**People have been asking for longer chapters, and I really want to make you guys happy so I'm trying. But please be patient I am incredibly busy between school, work, horse riding and my other commitments but I do try. **

**Would you guys prefer shorter chapters and an update everyday or longer chapters and an update every second day or so? Also if you have any ideas of what could happen to Claire please let me know :) Id love to hear your ideas and advice :) **

**Thanks to everyone who has been reading, last time I checked there was like 85+ followers. Thats just incredible, freaking mind-blowing. I dont even know how to thank you all enough. **

**Love, Fly. **


	14. Chapter 14 Jushiro

Chapter 14 Jushiro

"How the hell do you know some in the Japanese mafia?" Natasha questioned, sounding confused. I scrunched my nose as I pulled out my iPhone and scrolled through my contacts. Yeah I have an iPhone, I know its consumerists, sue me.

"Lucious used to date him" I mumbled, as Kitten hissed at me. "Oh shut up" I told the cat.

"Lucious, your partner?" Bruce asked me, and I nodded my head. Damn it, looks like I didn't save his number. Wonder if I can still remember it.

"Who did Sapphire used to date?!" Barton asked, sounding somewhat frantic as he walked back into the room. I raised an eyebrow at him, since when did Barton call Lucious by her first name, hell I'm her closest friend and I didn't even use her first name.

"Why, jealous Barton?" I asked grinning at the man. A faint blush covered his checks. Well, well, well that's very interesting. I wonder… "Me and Saph were in Japan for a mission when we ran into the Jushiro, turns out we were trying to kill the same guy, anyway Saph and Jushiro got drunk, hooked up and one thing led to another." I explained, keeping an eye on Barton's reaction. "Yeah, he was a badass kind of guy, made Sapphire pretty happy. She spent half her time killing the bad guys, and the other half in bed with a hot, badass Asian guy with an amazing chest." Barton just looked at me, a mixture of horror and jealousy on his face. Oh yeah, Hawkeye has a crush, big time. Brilliant. Now, so long as I get to live to see another day, it will all be good. I have a feeling that Lucious may attempt to kill me in my sleep tonight. The rest of the avengers just stared at me.

"Oh god. Claire, are there any ex-boyfriends of yours that we should know about? Please just tell me there's none in the mafia at least" Tony asked me, looking somewhat mortified at the prospect. I just smirked at him.

"Tony" I said "you have no idea." I burst out laughing as the look of horror on his face grew. "Oh hey, I remembered Jushiro's number" I said to no one in particular as I punched in the numbers and pressed call. Kitten glared at me and looked ready to kill, when I poked my tongue out of her my father shot me a look which clearly said 'my daughter is insane'.

I wondered when and I should tell them all the truth, or just let them stumble their way around clueless. Yeah, clueless sounds more amusing. For the benefit of the others, I placed my phone on loudspeaker.

"Jarvis translate our conversation" I told the AI as walked over to a bench where what looked like a sheet of glass lay. It had rounded corners and was about the same size of an iPad, and had pretty much the same function only about 3 decades more advance. I double tapped the screen and it filled with the same blue light that the rest of Stark tech had.

"Anatagata ga ari, dono yo ni kono bango o shutoku shimashita ka?" A voice growled over the phone. I handed the screen to Tony and everyone else crowed around him as the screen filled up with writing. 'Who are you and how did you get this number?'

"Ukamu ikeba, kuria wa don'na mana Jushiro-kun o manade inai" I replied with a smile. By the sounds of it, Jushiro hadn't changed at all. I watched the screen as our conversation was translated.

'well you clearly haven't learnt any manners Jushiro-kun'.

"Claire-chan?" Jushiro asked, his voice softened and he sounded surprised.

"Jushiro. Watashi wa sansei o hitsuyo to suru."

Jushiro. I need a favour.

….

My god. I know that I never was a good father and that I wasn't an expert when it came to my daughter, but it really hit home when I realized that I knew nothing about Claire. What sort of person was I that I didn't know anything about my only daughter? She talked on the phone to the man, Jushiro, as the others and I read their conversation on the screen in my hands.

"Oh god Claire-chan" Jushiro sighed "you're favours always mean something bad."

"Not always" Claire protested, frowning.

"Claire-chan, nothing good ever comes from you saying 'I need a favour'" Jushiro said flatly, I laughed silently but then felt a wave of sadness. This man, Jushiro, knew Claire better than I did.

"Yeah, you got a point." Clare agreed. I thought about Claire's comment from before, when I asked her about the ex-boyfriend thing, I prayed to whatever god there was that would listen to me that there was not a crazy ex from the mafia. Though I would never admit it out loud, if anything happened to Claire… well, I don't know what I would do…

"So what do you need?" Jushiro asked.

"Shiro-kun, you ever heard of anyone calling themself 'Kuchiku-kan'?" Claire asked as she stared at nothing in particular, her eyes glazed over as if she was somewhere far away in another place.

"Kuchiku-kan?" Jushiro said, even over the phone and in another language, he sounded surprised and even a little… fearful? "What the hell of you gotten yourself into?" he asked.

"Who is he?" Claire asked firmly, ignoring his question.

"No one really knows" Jushiro said "he came up about a year ago, killed some people made a name for himself. All I know is he trust no ones, has a couple of thugs under his control, and is a big fan of torture." I felt my stomach drop. Oh boy, a Japanese thug who loved killing and torture is after me. Yay for me. Claire's face paled as she chewed on her bottom lip.

"Oh, and I heard he's out to get Iron Man"

Oh, fuck life.

…..

"What?!" I asked, shocked. Hearing that this guy was after Tony from Daniel was bad enough, but hearing it from Jushiro was worse. This was real.

"Watch out Claire-chan, stay out of Kuchiku-kan's way. He's serious, if he wants someone dead, then they will end up dead." Jushiro told me, seriousness clear in his voice. "Trust me, he doesn't care who gets in his way, Kuchiku-kan will kill them. My advice, stay away from Iron Man cause he's a dead man." I sighed, man I know I complained about life being boring before, but I take it back. Boring is good; boring is fan-fucking-tastic.

"Yeah, think I'll have trouble with that one" I muttered under my breath. I couldn't just abandon the avengers. From the sounds of it, Kuchiku-kan was deadly. Was I really going to risk my neck for my father? Yeah, yeah I was. Oh, fuck life.

"Thank you Jushiro-kun" I said honestly. Despite that fact the he was in the mafia, Jushiro was actually a nice guy, just had a few personality problems…

"Hey Claire-chan…" Jushiro said, somewhat hesitantly.

"Yeah?" I asked, distracted by my thoughts.

"How's Sapphire?" he asked. I let out a laugh as Hawkeye attempted to cover up what appeared to be jealousy and anger. Oh, this is pure brilliance I thought with a grin.

"Good, though you may have to compete for her attention soon enough" I said, teasing the man. Jushiro still had feelings for Lucious, which I thought was highly amusing. Or at the very least, he missed her body.

"Nah, I'll always be Saph's number one" Jushiro said cheerfully. "Tell her I miss her yeah? And that anytime she comes to Japan, she's more than welcome to share my bed! You know, the stuff we used to get up to-"

"Oh I do not want to hear about your sex life!" I said loudly, interrupting him.

I don't know how looked more horrified;

Hawkeye, probably at the mention of Sapphire's sex life.

Or the captain, who looked horrified at the mere mention of sex.

**Hello :) I hope the Japanese is alright, I only used Google translate, so it could be completely wrong. As for the Japanese honorifics, I only know what anime has taught me over the years... so yeah :P again, probably completley wrong.**

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! and I noticed a couple of people have reviewed multiply times :3 **

**So WolfDarkfur, Amahlia, booklover1498 and (probably some more people) thank you all for your continued support, you are freaking _amazing_. **

**I realized the other day that its only 9 weeks of classes till they finish, then exams. Yeah, I know nothing about the Chinese Revolution. I'm screwed! Seriously guys, don't study History (or Biolgoy).**

**Tell me what you think of the story! :) **

**Love, Fly. **


	15. Chapter 15 Searching for Nobody

Chapter 15 Searching for Nobody

S.H.I.E.L.D agents came and took Daniel away, probably for further questioning. I truly felt sorry for the man; he was trying to save his sister the only way he knew how, by following orders. I had a feeling that Daniel will never see the light of day ever again, which will only mean the worst for his sister.

I sighed and shook my head while I pulled Kitten into my arms and hugged her close to my chest, breathing in her familiar scent and the comfort she brought. I willed the feeling of misery and pity for Daniel and his sister away; they would do me no good. As much as I hated it, there was nothing I could do for them, so instead I focused on the problem at hand. Kuchiku-kan threatening my father.

As much as I hated my father at times (well all the time) I didn't want him dead, and I wasn't just about to stand aside and let some thug kill him.

"Are you alright Miss Evans?" Rogers asked me quietly as the others discussed their – our – plan of attack. I jumped from his sudden appearance, too distracted by my thoughts to notice his approach.

Yeah, and I call myself an assassin.

"Yeah I'm fine" I sighed, in all honesty my answer to his question was a big fat no. I was stressed out of my head, but I wasn't about to tell that to Rogers. I lifted a hand and ran it through my tangled hair, pushing it away from my face.

"Are you sure ma'am?" the captain questioned "You look worried" damn it, Rogers was way too observant.

"Fine" I lied with what I hoped to be a reassuring smile.

"I keep hearing about this partner of yours" Steve said after a moment of silence. "What's she like?"

"Sapphire is…" I stopped and laughed at myself. How the hell do you explain someone like Sapphire? I thought to myself with a small smile. "She's funny, sarcastic, and deadly." I tried to explain everything that Sapphire Lucious was. "She always manages to get out of trouble and she keeps life interesting to say the least." Steve chuckled at my comment.

"She's like my best friend, sister and mother all rolled into one, she means everything to me" I said softly, being honest not only to Steve but to myself as well. Sapphire did mean everything to me, I was just a cold hearted bitch who was afraid of getting hurt and tried to hide her true feelings. The small kitten in my arms nuzzled up to me, a soft purring filling her chest. I scratched her under her chin and smiled softly.

"She's sounds like an incredible person" Steve said smiling. I nodded my head in agreement, despite what I sometimes said and she sometimes believed, she really was an incredible person. "I would like to meet her one day" I let out a laugh at this.

"You already have" I informed the captain with a grin. Steve frowned at me, clearly confused.

"I have?" he asked. I nodded my head unable to keep the grin off my face at the captain's confusion; he really was just too cute.

"Enough chit-chat kids" my father said as he walked up to us. "Time to pack your bags, we're going"

"Going?" I asked with a raised eyebrow "Going where?" Surely Tony didn't have some insane plan about going to Japan now and attempting to find Kuchiku-kan. Because, I'm just saying, that plan would be doomed to fail.

"The Avengers Tower" Tony announced cheerfully "the renovations are finished and there's better tech there, meaning it will be easier to locate this guy after me." Oh goody, looks like we're going to New York City! How exciting, not.

The rest of the day was spent everyone attempting to get their things together so we could leave for the Avengers Tower. I had finished packing my few belongs and was sitting on a bench in the kitchen staring out of the window at the ocean, deep in thought. The other avengers walked in all with bags behind them, Kitten in Tony's arms. I frowned when I saw this.

"What happened to wanting to get rid of her?" I asked, the stupid fur ball had betrayed me. When I had started to pack and informed the small cat of the move, she had thrown a hissy fit and vanished. Apparently, to Tony. Which I considered to be the ultimate betrayal, or maybe I was just over exaggerating again…

"She's cute" Tony defended himself with a shrug as we walked out of the Mansion and all got into cars. I rolled my eyes as Kitten purred with happiness upon hearing the compliment, oh yeah defiantly the ultimate betrayal.

…

Upon arriving at the newly finished Avengers Tower, we all settled into the upper floors of the building then, Banner, Stark and myself headed down to the other floors and spent the rest our time in the labs attempting to find everything and anything about Kuchiku-kan, whilst Romanoff and Barton tried their luck with S.H.I.E.L.D, the demi-god and super-solider attempted to stay out of our way.

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my tired eyes, all this staring at a computer screen had given me a headache.

"Well I've got nothing" I announced glumly. I had long ago given up with S.H.I.E.L.D's, Stark Industries and the U.S government archives and in desperation I had moved onto Facebook, I had even Googled the guy! But still, nothing. Kuchiku-kan was invisible. "You guys got anything?" I asked doubtful, as I leaned my chin on my head and stared blankly at the screen in front of me.

"Nope" my father said, sounding depressed at the thought. Banner just shook his head.

"Anyone else got any ideas?" Banner asked as the others walked in.

"I could hack into the Japanese military system" I offered, though I highly doubt it would come up with anything. I was starting to think that we were wasting our time; Kuchiku-kan didn't want to be found, so I sincerely doubted that we were going to find the guy on Google.

"Might want to save that for a last resort" Barton said sarcastically. I forced back the urge to give him a sarcastic reply, it wouldn't help the situation.

"I could always just suit up, fly to Japan and see if anyone attacks me" Tony suggested.

"NO!" I shouted out before I could stop myself, my voice echoing loudly throughout the lab.

Everyone looked at me, shocked at my sudden outburst, a pale blush wanted to coat my checks but I forced it down, quickly thinking of a reason for my sudden cry, wondering what on earth had caused me to do so in the first place.

"Uh" think brain think. "Japanese airspace is tighter than S.H.I.E.L.D's ability to keep secrets. You may be Iron Man, but you'd never get through. Trust me, Japan would take offence to that and would not hesitate to start a war." Well, I suppose it's true enough….

"You should not be ashamed that you are afraid for your father's safety, daughter of the man of iron" Thor told me. "Is that not a normal human reaction?" Oh god damn it, shut your mouth Thor! I wanted to scream at the man.

"I'm not afraid for Tony's safety" I scoffed. "I couldn't care less what happens to him, I'm more concerned that he would insult Japan and start World War III "

"Naww, you really care about m-"Tony started to say before I threw the nearest object at him, an empty coffee mug. The mug flew through the air before hitting Tony on his shoulder, sending him flying off his feet. Everyone stood there looking between Tony and I for a moment, wondering if another fight would break out between us.

"Opps" I said innocently before spinning on my heel and leaving the room. Stupid bastard.

…..

A few days passed in this manner, everyone doing anything to find anything about Kuchiku-kan, but still, despite the Avengers best efforts the man still remained invisible. A nobody.

The Avengers started to notice something incredible. When Clarissa 'Claire' Jane Evans had first come to the Avengers, she had been rude, standoffish, sarcastic and had done anything and everything in her power to separate herself from the others, but now the Avengers could see Claire slowly lowering the wall around herself.

Slowly, but surely, Claire stopped pushing everyone away and slowly, ever so slowly started to open up. Yesterday a nod, today a small smile and a soft 'hello'. There was less fights with Tony, more peace, more happiness.

Then one day, a laugh flowed through the Avengers Tower. A soft, musical laugh that echoed happiness. It was Steve Rogers who had caused the assassin to laugh like this, a true laugh of happiness. The others spied on the Captain and the small S.H.I.E.L.D agent as they stood alone in the lab, a large smile from Rogers as Claire laughed, a twinkle in her eyes. Slowly it seemed that the closed off Agent Evans was starting to come alive again.

**Hello everybody :) Sorry this chapter took a while to get up, I had a massive SAC for school (a SAC is like... a mini exam? Theire really important and you kinda have to do well if you wanna pass. Those who live in Victoria and do VCE will understand and share my pain) so I was busy studying but its over know and the chapters up so yay!  
**

**By the way, guess what?! Freaking over 100 followers! Holy shit, 100 of you guys like the story enough to follow? AH! I'm so excited is unbelievable. When I first saw it, I actually started to jump up and down with joy (my mum asked me if I was retared but meh) **

**Thank you all for the support, reviews and everything, you are all incredible.**

**Love, Fly. **


	16. Chapter 16 Cemetery

Chapter 16 - Cemetery

One morning, the Avengers all woke to see a small note lying on the kitchen table. Frowning Captain America picked up the note and read the messy handwriting.

"Don't worry I'm fine. I'll be back later tonight. Claire." the captain read to the rest of the avengers. Despite the note, panic gripped the super-solider. Though he would never admit the fact out loud, over the past few weeks he had started to fall for the small brunette. Something that terrified him.

"Where do you think she could be?" Banner asked a frown on his face as well.

"Where who could be?" Tony asked, sounding tired as he shuffled into the kitchen and towards the coffee machine.

"Claire" Steve told Tony as he handed him the note she had left. "She's gone." The others expected Tony to explode, just as he had one Claire's first day back at the Mansion and she had gone off with even less warning than today.

"She'll be at New York Cemetery" Tony said softly, his back was to the others as he stared out the window and into the city below.

"What? Why?" Romanoff asked, sounding confused. Assassins rarely visited graveyards, though there was plenty for them to visit. Mostly, cemeteries meant remembering, and remembering meant pain. It must be someone who used to be very close to Claire for her to visit the grave, someone she was unwilling to forget.

"Her mother" Tony said, his voice filled with pain.

"Claire's mother is dead?" Banner asked softly, a look of pity on his face.

"Caitlyn Evans was an Agent for S.H.I.E.L.D, one of the best." Natasha said quietly "from what I know, she was tortured and murdered around 9 years ago, if the rumours are true, then Claire saw it all."

"Claire saw her own mother tortured and murdered?" Steve whispered. Pain filled his heart for Claire. Nobody deserved to go through something as horrific as that.

"11 years" Tony said suddenly. "It was 11 years ago." It was so unlike Tony to remember a date, it startled the others. Claire's mother must have meant something to Tony, even if he didn't show it.

Tony abandoned his coffee and headed out of the room. "If anyone needs me, I'll be… somewhere" the genius mumbled. The room filled with silence as they all tried to process the information they had just received.

The captain felt so incredibly sorry for the girl that he was being to think that he… maybe… just possible… the girl that he loved.

….

"Hi mum" I said softly as I placed a bouquet of flowers besides her headstone.

'Here lies Caitlyn Evans,

A loving mother,

Beloved by all.'

"I miss you" I whispered, I felt hollow and empty inside as if something was missing. I had felt like this ever since mum had been gone, I loved her and she was an incredible woman. Even though she was an assassin, she was always kind, always caring to whoever she met. She was the best mother anyone could ever ask for. She was the type of woman I aspired to be, despite the fact of knowing that I will always fall short of her greatness.

My vision blurred as a hot, salty tear ran down my check. This was the only time when I truly let my emotions shine through. If I showed how I really felt the past few weeks, then I would be an emotional train wreck. I kept up this façade of being strong, being able to defend myself, that I relied on no one. But in truth? In truth, I was anything but that, in truth I was weak, and in truth I was pathetic, stumbling my way along pretending that I was fine. When in truth, all I am is weak.

"I miss you so much" I cried out as tears poured down my checks. Suddenly, a twig snapped behind me and I span around to face the creator of the noise, a gasp escaping my lips.

"Tony?" I said surprised, as I attempted to scrub the tears from my checks but soon realised it was a moot point. It was clear that I was crying, there was no point trying to hide it. There stood my father, dressed in a suit with a bouquet of lilies in hand.

"Hey kid" he said softly as he placed his flowers besides mine.

"What are you doing here?" I stammered as I tried to gain some control over my tears.

"Visiting your mother of course" Tony said with a sad smile. He stepped to my side as a tear slipped down his face. What, Tony was crying? For my mother? Confusion swept through me, why would he be so upset? Unless… unless he cared… in my mind I wanted to dismiss that idea, because it meant that he cared, it meant that he wasn't the emotionless ass I was trying to make him out to be.

"I can't believe it's been 11 years already" Tony mumbled. I opened my mouth to correct but then realised that there was no need to.

"You remembered?" I questioned softly, staring up at my father.

"Course" Tony said as we stared down at her grave "I know you may have a hard time believing this, but I…" he trailed off, and I felt disappointment wash through me. For a moment there I actually thought that he may say that he cared but I guess I was just trying to convince myself. "I truly cared about Caitlyn" I snapped my head up to see him, my eyes wide. Did he really mean it?

"Did… did you really?" I asked quietly, almost afraid to hear his answer. "Or are you just saying that to get on my good side?"

"Honest, from the bottom of my heart, your mother meant everything to me. The years I was blessed enough to have her in my life where some of my best." Tony said quietly, his eyes glazing over as he remembered. I stared up at the man besides me in wonder.

When I was younger, Mum talked about Tony a lot, whenever he was mentioned her face light up, I suppose you would call it love. Once mum was gone, and I no longer talked to Tony, I believed her to be an idiot. A stupid woman who was obsessed with an even stupider man. I didn't believe in love. My mother would always talk about how Tony had this different side, a side he didn't let show. I never believed her… but now? Now… I think… I think I know what she's talking about. Now I think I can see the side of Tony that she could see. The side that cried at her grave, the side that cared. The side that loved.

"Claire?" My father said softly.

"Yeah?" I replied, just as softly. There was none of the awkwardness, or hate or anger that was there between the two of us before. It had all… just gone…

"I know that your life hasn't been the best, and I know that a lot of it was because of me." Tony said quietly. "I wish it had been different" I stared at Tony. Did he really mean it? I prayed with everything I had that he did. Despite what I often said, I truly did want a parent in my life. Even though I was an adult, I wanted someone who could help me. Someone who cared about and would be there for me. And hell, if that someone was Tony, then fine by me. I knew it wasn't an apology, but it was the closest I was going to get.

When Mum was still around, she always told me that I should love my father and try to get closer to him. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to take her advice… true, it was around 14 years later, but hey, better late than never right?

"I've gotta head back to the Tower now" Tony said with a small smile. "Want a lift?" he asked.

"Nah" I said, shaking my head "I'll spend a bit longer here" Tony nodded his head and wrapped an arm around my side and hugged me gently. I froze in shock, this was the first time Tony had hugged me… ever. I hesitantly hugged him back, before stepping away and smiling at him.

"I'll see you later?" Tony said. I nodded my head.

"Yeah, see you later… Dad."

**Hiya! :3 Yes, we got to see a different side of Claire in this chapter. Question, do you guys want to see more of this side to Claire? Don't worry there will be plently more of badass moments but I'm thinking have having more moments that shows Claire's softer and weaker side. What do you all think? **

**I know that I alot of people have been wanting to see more romance between Claire and Cap, so look forward to next chapter! **

**Thank you all for you support! Theres over 11,000 views AHHHH! You are freaking awesome guys! :) **

**Love, Fly. **


	17. Chapter 17 Sunset

Chapter 17 Sunset

For the next few hours, I sat beside Mum's grave deep in thought. I told her about everything that had happened in the past year, missions I had been on, the avengers, Steve Rogers. Even though there was never a reply, it was still good to talk, the closest I would ever get to speaking to my mother.

Around mid-afternoon, a young woman slowly walked her way through the cemetery. She was tall and wore a pair of black jeans with calf high boots and a white tank top, and though she was still young, her black hair was streaked with white strips.

Then there stood my partner and my best friend. Sapphire Lucious.

"Hey Claire" she whispered. Sapphire was an incredible person, she was quiet and gentle for the most part, but still had this burning inner strength and iron will. Sapphire wrapped an arm around my shoulder and squeezed gently.

"Hey" I replied, as I rested my head on her shoulder. I was completely exhausted, emotionally and physically. For a while we just stood there in silence, just taking comfort from each other's presence.

"So you and Barton hey?" I said after a while with a grin on my face.

"Barton? Who's that? I've been checking out the sexy, hot blonde with a sexy ass" Sapphire said with a grin, an evil glint in her eye. Bitch, well two can play at that game.

"Who, Thor?" I questioned innocently, tilting my head to the side.

"No, that sexy blonde has a very nice chest. The other one with the sexy ass." Sapphire clarified for me. "And besides" she continued "there's nothing on between me and Clint" was that a hint of sadness I detected in her voice?

"Come on!" I protested "You saw how he was the other day when I mentioned you and Jushiro, the guy clearly has the hots for you!"

"Oh yeah, I still need to kill for mention the Jushiro thing" she informed me and I rolled my eyes.

"And what about you and Captain America" Sapphire said "I repeat Captain Freaking America!"

"What Rogers?" I said, trying to sound nonchalant "Pfft, there's nothing going on between us, now back to you and Clint and how in love you two are-"

"Nope, we are talking about you and the sexy piece of ass that makes up the captain and why you haven't banged him yet." Sapphire said with a smirk.

"Lucious!" I said loudly "are you kidding me? No, there is no sex, nothing, nothing going on between me and Rogers"

"You sure?" the girl besides me said, sounding disappointed. "Cause last time I checked, he seemed really into you"

"He's just a gentleman" I mumbled "it's not like he likes me or anything." Okay, why the hell was I getting depressed about this? Note to self: have pep talk with self later re: not liking the captain.

Sapphire suddenly glanced up and a large grin spread across her face. Oh dear god. Nothing good ever came from a grin like that.

"Well, looks like you can talk to him yourself right now" Sapphire said as she started to walk away.

"What?!" I squawked, looking in the direction where she had looked beforehand, only to see the very man walking towards me. Oh no, no, no, no! He hadn't heard anything had he?! "Lucious don't leave me!" I said to the woman's retreating back. No, no, no!

"Have fun Claire!" Sapphire called out as she waved a hand in goodbye, not even bothering to turn around.

"Oh I hate you so much!" I muttered under my breath as Rogers approached. He wore a pair of jeans and a tan jacket; I tried my best not to blush as I pushed a strand of hair behind my ear, feeling like a school girl.

"I thought you might like some company" Rogers said quietly with a small smile. I was about to tell him to bugger off when I hesitated. I did want some company, and seeing how Lucious had just bailed on me…

"Company may be nice" I admitted as I shoved my hands in my pocket, it had suddenly dropped in temperature, and only dressed in a pair of jeans, a light grey long sleeve top and a scarf wrapped around my neck I was starting to feel the cold. Today was certainly miserable and colder than the days before. Winter was on its way.

We both stood there in silence and I sneaked a glance up at Steve. He stood there, a look of deep concentration on his face.

"You okay Rogers?" I asked quietly, staring up at the super solider. He stared down at me and smiled. Upon seeing that smile, all thoughts where whipped from my head but one. What Lucious had said before, there was no way that Steve liked me… was there?

"Oh, my apologizes ma'am" Steve said, continuing to smile that mind numbing smile "I'm a little distracted by my thoughts today" I laughed at this.

"Don't worry, that makes two of us" I said also smiling. There was just something about Steve that made me happy. Oh crap, did that sound like love? Yeah, that sounded like love. Holy shit, I sound like I'm in love.

"Come on" Steve said suddenly, he gently took hold of my hand and pulled me along.

"What? Where are we going?" I asked frowning we walked out of the cemetery.

"It's a surprise" Steve said with a smile. I glanced down and had to fight the urge to blush. Steve continued to hold my hand gently as we exited the cemetery and into the car park. He led me to a motorbike and chucked me a black helmet. I frowned as he picked up another helmet and put it on.

If he had two helmets, then… did he come here to pick me up on purpose? Unless he always just had two helmets with him.

"Everything alright ma'am?" Steve questioned me, noticing my apparent confusion.

"Everything's fine" I said with a smile as I put on my helmet and did up the buckle "just wondering what this 'surprise' is"

"You'll see when we get there" Steve said with a chuckle "just a place I like to visit whenever I have a lot on my mind." Everything Steve did just left me with confusion. From the way he talked, this place sounded special to him, so why on earth would he share it with someone like me?

Steve stepped onto the bike, kicked the engine into life and pushed down the visor down on his helmet.

"Come on!" he said loudly over the rumble of the engine. I hesitated, unsure of myself. Why the hell did this man, this man that I've for less than a month leave me feeling so uncertain? A man never had this effect on me before! So what the hell was so different about this super-solider that left me breathless? Steve stared at me and I could only wonder what was running through his head. Come on, his voice repeated in my head. Come on, what have you got to lose?

I hesitantly got on the back of the bike and wrapped my arms around Steve's waist and held on tightly. Steve revved the engine before pulling away from the cemetery and driving through the streets of New York City. I snuggled into his back as we slowly weaved in and out of traffic, I had no idea where we were going, and frankly I didn't care. Steve could take me to any place in the world and it wouldn't bother me. I was strangely content and comfortable just to hold onto Steve as he drove us through the city. God, I sounded like a love sick girl, but that didn't make it any less true. Again, I wondered what was it about Steve that made him so different from the thousands of other males I would have met in my life. Why did he affect me?

….

We road and eventually left the city. Time passed, but neither of us counted, we didn't care. He pulled onto a gravel road and killed the engine. I stepped off the bike and pulled my helmet off and was left breathless.

Steve and I now stood on a cliff, overlooking the city. The sun was setting and painted the sky with colours of red, pink, purple, orange and more.

"It's beautiful" I said simply, it was the only words that came to mind as I stared out over the city and the sunset. Just, beautiful. Steve and I walked forward to a wooden bench in front of us.

"I found this place even before I become Captain America" Steve said softly and I stared up at him with wonder. Before he became Captain America? That must have been over 70 years ago.

"The views changed a lot, but the sunsets the same" Steve said with a small sad smile. I wondered what it would like for him, to just loss 70 years than wake up in a strange world. Everyone and everything he loved gone.

"It must be hard" I whispered "everything being so different from back then" I could only imagine the pain the Steve would be going through.

"It is" Steve said softly, he stared out over the city with a faraway look in his eye. "It's not all bad though" he said after a moment as he glanced over at me with a grin "I did happen to meet some amazing people" This time I did blush. He couldn't mean me could me? Steve smiled at me softly with an odd look in his eye before looking back to the sunset.

How things had changed. When we had first met, it was me causing Steve to blush but now things where opposite. Now, it was Steve making me blush. The worst part? Steve wasn't even trying. I had used my body knowing the reaction I would get from the man. Steve was merely being the gentleman he was raised to be, he probably wasn't even talking about me.

"My Mum used to love watching sunsets" I said quietly. I drew my feet up onto the bench and rested my head my knees as I wrapped my arms around my legs.

"What was she like?" Steve asked me. I stared at the setting sun and remembered.

"Mum… was someone who I knew would always be there for me no matter what" I explained slowly, searching for the right words "even though she was an assassin, she was so caring. No matter what, she always put me first."

"She sounds like an incredible person" he said softly. I silently agreed with him.

"I miss her so much" I whispered. I wondered to myself what the hell was I doing. I was letting my wall down that I had held up for so long. I was letting someone in. Something I had learnt long ago was that the more people you let into your life, the more you could get hurt. In all my life I had only let a few people in. My mother, of course, then Sapphire, then slowly Pepper. And now… Now it was the Avengers. Now it may even be my father. I was letting people into my life, people who could hurt me. That was something that terrified me. Giving others the power to hurt me.

I had pushed others away for so long, that I wasn't even sure I was capable of most human feelings anymore. I was just an assassin, just a killing monster. How on earth could I let people in now?

The sun faded over the horizon, bathing the world in darkness. I shivered, it seemed that the sun had gone and so had all its warmth.

"Here" Steve said suddenly, he shrugged of his jacket and handed it to me.

"No, I couldn't" I said shaking my head "I'm fine, I just-"Steve just laughed at me and placed the jacket around my shoulders. I sighed; clearly there was no arguing with the man. I slipped my arms through the sleeves and snuggled into its warmth. It was far too big for me and slipped past my finger tips and seemed to almost swallow my small frame. I inhaled softly and smiled, it smelt just like him. A mixture of washing powder, grass, sweat and aftershave.

I had pushed others away from as long as I could remember, too afraid to let people in apart from a select few. But maybe now… maybe now… I could let a few more in.

"We should head back to the Tower before anyone panics" Steve said with a soft smile as he stood up. He offered me a hand, and this time I took it with no hesitation.

**Yay! A long chapter! :) yes some romance between Steve and Claire, I know its not much but I wanted to build it up slowly cause I think that suits Steves personality more, I know some people want more romance, but you'll just have to wait :P **

**Something I've never understood; why people put disclaimers and such. I mean, obviously if your writing a fanfiction, your not going to own Marvel or whatever. Yeah, just my thoughts. **

**You guys are incredible, theres over 60 reviews now and over 120 followers. Holy shit. Thats all I have to say 3 **

**Love, Fly. **

**Love, Fly.**


	18. Chapter 18 Sapphire Lucious

Chapter 18 Sapphire Lucious

Like the true gentleman he was, Steve drove me home then walked me to the door of my bedroom. He was so unlike any other guy I knew. From experience, if majority of the male population had been placed in the same situations as Steve, they would have tried to have sex with me or at the very least flirted with me. With Steve though, there was none of that. Sex probably hadn't even crossed the man's mind, it was a nice change.

We stood alone in the corridor outside my bedroom, the rest of the tower silent, I had no idea where the others were and frankly didn't care.

"Thank for this afternoon" I said honestly. I was truly grateful for Steve's company.

"The pleasure is all mine, ma'am" he said with a soft smile. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, Steve picked up my hand and gently pressed his lips to it. I felt my heart flutter inside my chest as all thoughts vanished from my mind.

"Goodnight Miss Claire" Steve said with a smile as he dropped my hand and walked away down the hall.

"Goodnight… Steve" I said. Once Steve turned the corner I opened the door and ran and jumped onto my bed. Laughing with joy. I stood up and quickly got changed into a pair of short shorts and a tank top. I noticed that I still had Steve's jacket. Oh shame, I suppose I will just have to return it to him tomorrow. I jumped back into bed and snuggled into the sheets, a smile on my face.

For the first time in a long time, I could honestly say that I was happy.

…

The Avengers watched on as Captain America said goodnight to the small S.H.I.E.L.D agent before him. Both Hawkeye and the Hulk had to hold Ironman back from ruining the moment between the pair.

"Let me go!" Tony Stark growled as he watched Spangles kiss his daughter on the hand. The others only chuckled at the now furious man as they dragged him to the kitchen to give the two some privacy.

"Who the hell does he think he is touching my princess?!" Stark shouted as he poured himself a very strong drink. Tony had spent the afternoon drinking away, and though he didn't need any more alcohol in his system, the others found it amusing to say the least to listen to the man's drunken rambles. "He's violating my daughter. VIOLATING HER!" Tony continued.

"Calm down Stark" Barton said laughing. "The Captain's just being a gentleman."

"I don't know Clint" Natasha said with an evil glint in her eyes "it seems that Spangles really has the hots for Claire, wonder if he's banged her yet…"

"BANG HER?! WHAT?! NO! MY DAUGHTERS VIRGNITY! HOW DARE HE TAKE IT?!" Tony screamed, almost in hysterics.

"Hate to break it to you Stark, but Claire isn't a virgin" Natasha said with a grin as she tormented the poor man "one time we were on a mission and I walked in on her having sex with some English guy"

It took the other men in the room all their will-power not to fall onto the ground in laughter as a look of complete horror crossed Tony's face.

"What was his name again?" Natasha said "John I think it was"

"No!" Tony practically sobbed as he abandoned his glass and moved into just the bottle of pure vodka. "Jarvis, tell me it's not true!"

"Sir, I have no way of confirming or denying that information" the AI told its maker, who was pretty much an emotional, drunk mess right now.

"And may I remind you sir, that Miss Evans is legally an adult, meaning she can have intercourse with whomever she wishes too" Jarvis stated "also you have never had any legal custody over Miss Evans so you have no control over her actions in any way, shape or form"

"FUCK YOU JARVIS!" Tony screamed at the AI as he stormed from the room. The others all burst out into laughter. Stark's reaction was truly priceless. It was incredibly amusing to see the man overreact when it came to Claire.

"Natasha?" Bruce said to the red haired assassin as he whipped away a tear of laughter "is that story true about Claire and the English guy?"

"Nope!" Natasha said with a cheerful grin.

…..

The next morning I woke up with a smile still on my face. Just like in those cliché movies, I sat up and stretched unable to stop smiling. If I were to bet on it, I would probably bet on Steve being the cause of the smiles. He just made me… happy. As much as I hated to admit it, I was starting to have feelings for the guy. I frowned as I sat in bed and stared at nothing. Oh my god.

I had feelings for freaking Captain America, as in feelings 'I like you more than a friend' type feelings.

What the hell was I meant to do? I was an assassin for crying out load! I didn't do emotions and romance and all that other crap. I had never actually been in a relationship before, sure I had meaningless sex with guys, but never had I been in a position where I cared about someone before in a romantic way. I was at a complete loss.

So that I didn't follow that road of depressing thoughts I quickly stood and dressed. I stared at Steve's jacket that lay draped over the end of my bed and chewed my bottom lip. With the sudden epiphany of my feelings for the man, I was now uncertain if I wanted to face him. I was almost certain that Steve wouldn't return my feelings, I mean, why would he? I was nothing special, and I wasn't about to put myself out on a limb and tell him how I felt. I may seem confident but I couldn't put myself in such a dangerous position. I sighed, I wondered why on earth I had allowed myself to develop feelings for the Captain; I knew nothing good would come for it. Neither of us where in a position where we could pursue a relationship. Unable, or at least unwilling, to keep on thinking, I quickly got dressed and left my room and headed to the kitchen.

I walked into kitchen to find all of the other Avengers already in there, in various stages of eating breakfast and their morning routines. I frowned when I noticed Kitten was sitting next to Barton as he ate a bowl of cereal.

"Barton, by any chance did Kitten sleep in your room last night?" I questioned as it finally clicked in my head that I hadn't seen the fur ball at all last night.

"Yeah, she did" Clint said, as he looked up from his bowl and at me.

"You're a bitch" I told the cat; how dare she betray me like that?! Stupid fur ball! I grabbed an apple and jumped up onto the counter and began eating the fruit as I thought about what need to be done today. We still had no luck with finding anything about Kuchiku-kan; all we had discovered is a few reports in a Japanese newspaper regarding some horrific bloody deaths. I shivered as I remembered a picture we had come across. I still remember the bloody, mutilated corpse that had obvious signs of torture on it.

"The way you talk to Kitten, anyone would think she was human" Bruce commented as Kitten ran across the room and jumped up onto the counter next to me.

I burst into laughter at this, a large grin on my face. It was just too amusing and so close to the truth for me to keep a straight face.

"Seriously?" I said grinning "it's been over a month and none of you have figured it out yet?"

"Figured what out?" Bruce questioned frowning. Everyone stared at me confused as I just grinned.

"What do you think Kitten?" I asked the small cat besides me. "Think we've fooled them enough?"

Everyone stood in shocked silence as Kittens small body stared to shake. Fur disappeared and limbs grew. In a matter of seconds, the transformation was over and where Kitten used to be now sat a girl. She sat on the bench in a pair of black jeans and a white top with her legs dangling over the edge. Her black hair was streaked with white and hung down to her lower back, she ran a hand through her tangled, messy hair and pushed it back off her face.

"I don't know it was still kinda funny seeing them be totally clueless" the girl said with a smirk on her face as everyone started at her in disbelief. Besides me now sat my best friend and partner.

Sapphire Lucious.

**Yes! Kitten is Sapphire :) I'm fairly sure that some people had guessed that by now but meh.**

**Hope everyone is enjoying the story :) If you have any ideas I would love to hear them, critisism is welcome! **

**Year 7's are really annoying -.- I'm just saying. Freaking 12 year olds suck. In fact, Australian schooling just sucks. And I have Biology in 15 minutes and I havent done my homework. Opps. Blah, yeah I should stop complaining. **

**I'll try and update as soon as possible :) **

**Love, Fly. **


	19. Chapter 19 How We Met

Chapter 19 How We Met

"Everyone, this is Sapphire Lucious, otherwise known as Kitten" I said with a grin. Everyone stared at us in silence, too shocked to know what to say.

"So let me get this straight" my father said after a while "the cat you brought home is actually a S.H.I.E.L.D agent that can somehow turn herself into an animal?"

"Yep" I said causally as I continued to eat my apple. A pale blush was starting to coat Barton's cheeks and I wondered if it finally clicked in his head that the kitten he shared his bed with last night was actually the girl he had a crush on.

"Are you lesbian?" Tony asked suddenly. I chocked on the bite of apple I just took.

"What? No" I said as I tried to cough up the chunk of apple I swallowed whole. Natasha, Clint and Bruce all laughed at me while Steve just blushed and Thor looked around confused.

"What is this lesbian?" The demi-god asked.

"It means when someone likes someone of the same gender" the Hulk said with a grin.

"Naww! You have a crush on me Evans! How cute" Sapphire said with a grin as she wrapped her arms around me and hugged tightly.

"Bugger off" I scoffed as I elbowed her in the ribs "even if I was lesbian I could do better than you"

"Hey Stark, seems like your daughter can keep the same girl in bed longer than you can" Natasha said with an evil grin. My god, one of these days, I swear, Romanoff will say something and either my father or I will snap and kill her.

"Oh, by the way Stark. I still haven't forgotten about that comment where you said you wanted to get rid of me" Sapphire said to Tony with a frown on her face.

"Yeah…" Tony trailed off as he rubbed the back of his neck "in my defence that was before I knew you were hot" I stared at my father.

"No!" I said quickly shaking my head "not happening. Tony, I know she's hot but you are not flirting with her. Barton I can deal with, I don't care if those two date, they can do whatever they want. But you are not to look, to touch or to even comment, okay?" Both Sapphire and Clint blushed dark red and my father simply raised his hands in surrender. I sighed, why the hell did my father have to be such a pervert? It was seriously disturbing.

"I'm guessing Fury knows you're here?" Natasha asked Sapphire.

"Nah, cause Fury wouldn't realize if one of his best agents suddenly disappeared the same time as I left S.H.I.E.L.D" I said teased with a grin. More joking around than true sarcasm.

"Fury learnt long ago not to separate me and Claire" Sapphire said with a smirk and I let out a laugh.

"You two wouldn't have anything to do with the incident a few years back with Fury's office?"

Natasha asked sounding suspicious as Clint's face just got redder and redder as he suck lower in his chair, looking anywhere but in Sapphires direction.

"Nope, not at all" I said nonchalantly as I looked at my nails.

"Why would we do anything like that?" Sapphire said innocently.

"Now why wouldn't I believe you?" Tasha said sarcastically with a grin.

'Wait, what happened with Fury's office?" Tony asked sounding confused.

"Nothing at all" Sapphire said with a grin. Yeah, as if that grin was reassuring at all. I glanced in the Captains direction and met his gaze. He smiled at me and I quickly glanced down at my lap. I still wasn't any closer to coming to a decision regarding the course of action I would take. Unfortunately, I lived with the man, meaning I couldn't exactly avoid him.

"How did you two meet?" Bruce asked sounding curious. I glanced at Sapphire, it wasn't exactly something we talked about, and I wasn't sure if it was something Sapphire wanted me to discuss with the others.

"If anyone needs me I'll be at the gym" I announced as I jumped off the bench. I quickly headed out of the room before anyone could stop me.

"We all realize you're avoiding the question Evans!" Sapphire called after me "you're not subtle at all!"

Ah, the joys of having my best friend back.

…

Claire walked off, ignoring Sapphire as she called out after her and I couldn't help but laugh. It was interesting to say the least to see this different side of Claire. It seemed that around Sapphire, Claire lowered the walls around herself. It was obvious from the moment we had meet that Claire hid who she really was behind walls, but when she was with Sapphire the walls seemed to melt away. She smiled more and was happier, it was easy to see. I wondered how close Claire and Sapphire had to be for Sapphire to have this effect on her. And it only made be fall in love with Claire more. I wanted desperately to make her smile and laugh, to make her happy, but I had no idea how.

I sighed feeling confused and depressed. Because of Claire, this has been the happiest I've been since waking to this century. Yet I had no idea what to do with my new found feeling. I was almost certain that Claire wouldn't return my feelings and besides I knew that Tony would never allow anything to happen between the two of us. Though I knew that it was different now and that I didn't have to gain a fathers permission first (and besides, I had a feeling that Claire would not care in the slightest what Tony had to say regarding the matter) I still wanted to stick to the way I had been raised, as a gentleman.

"Does she do that often?" Bruce asked Sapphire.

"What? Run away when she wants to avoid something?" she said and Bruce nodded in reply. "Oh yeah, all the time" she said with a small smile. I saw her eyes flicker over to Barton's direction and they both blushed and looked away quickly. I wondered if there was anything going on between the two and smiled softly.

"So back to how you and Claire meet" Tony said. It seemed that Tony knew as little about Claire as the rest of us did.

"We've known each other for most of our lives" Sapphire explained. "My parents worked for S.H.I.E.L.D as doctors so I grew up around S.H.I.E.L.D, just like Claire. When we were 6, Caitlyn, Claire's mum, was injured during a mission; Claire was upset so as my parents helped Caitlyn, I stayed with Claire. Since then we sort of just stared hanging out and getting to know each other." Sapphire's eyes glazed over as she told her story.

"When Caitlyn died, my mum and dad helped Claire as much as they could, and when my parents were killed Claire was really the only one who was there for me. Then when we were 15, we were sent on our first real mission together with some other agents but it went horribly wrong. We were the only ones who survived. After all we had been through together; I suppose it only made sense for us to become partners." I was shocked, I was only beginning to realize just how much death and pain Claire had been through, and Sapphire as well. Both girls had seen far too much death than anyone should. We all sat in silence, not knowing what to say.

"I should go make sure Claire doesn't destroy anything" Sapphire said after a while with a smile on her face. She stood up off the bench and headed in the direction Claire had walked off before in. Barton chewed his bottom lip and frowned.

"You gonna go talk to her?" Natasha questioned the man raising an eyebrow as she crossed her arms.

"Uh nope, I'd rather just sit here" Clint muttered under his breath. Natasha rolled her eyes, grabbed Clint's arm and pulled him up and shoved him in Sapphires direction.

"Tell her!" Natasha called after the man. Clint simply raised his middle finger at her in reply. I thought about what Sapphire told us, about her and Claire's past.

"I never realized that Claire's life has been so…" Tony trailed off, he sounded both surprised and sad. I silently agreed with the man. Just by knowing the few things about Claire's past, it was clear it was filled with pain and death.

"What did you expect Stark?" Natasha asked raising an eyebrow "that her life would be all sunshine, rainbows and butterflies? Claire's an assassin; we've all got bloody pasts."

"I just didn't realize that she had been an assassin her whole life" Tony mumbled "I dunno, I just thought she would have at least had a childhood. I should have… been there for her… or something…" the man trailed off and left the room, deep in thought. Natasha, Banner and I all stared after him in disbelief.

"Wow, looks like Stark has a heart after all." Natasha mumbled.

**Woo! Two chapters in one day, be proud of me guys. Random confession, I am slightly obsessed with KPop at the moment... okay more than slightly. Anyone else share that obsession? No? Just me... Yeah.**

**(P.S, anyone know of good websites for buying cosplay costumes off? My friends want to do a group cosplay of Legend of Zelda, and being the lovely person I am I agreed to join in and cosplay as Princess Zelda. (lol. JK, I'm not that nice, I'll just use any excess to cosplay) but for once ebay has failed me! It's very depressing, don't know what to do with my life anymore. So if anyone has good websites send a message my way? :3 I'll love you forever)**

**Yeah, you know the lesson we're all meant to learn about safety on the internet and not sharing to many personal details, clearly I never learnt that lesson. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.**

**And I've had way to much sugar and not enough sleep, it's late and I have school tomorrow so I'm sending myself to bed. Night!**

**Love, Fly.**


	20. Message to my readers

Hey everyone, no new chapter just a message. (Sorry if this doesnt make sense, I'm really upset and its like 2 in the morning right now, but I wanted to get this over and done with before I go get some sleep)

Another author has pretty much copied me word for word in a part of their story. This is not okay. I put a lot of hard work into my stories and I honestly love sharing it with you guys but it is really, really upsetting to see this happen. I know some people put copyright and all that jazz on their stories, and the reason why I havent done this is because I thought it wasnt necessary and kinda stupid. I know its only fanfiction but as many of you all will know, I pour my heart and soul into my writings so its horrible to see this happen. I know it can be hard to come up with ideas sometimes (writings block is a bitch) but if you want to, you can message me asking me for ideas, I dont know how much help I will be but I'd much, much rather that than you just copy and past my writing.

Please, please dont copy. I understand that sometimes ideas and writing styles will be similar, I understand and expect that to happen and that it cant be avoided completely but don't just copy and past. Sorry that this is so depressing and serious :( I hate to do this but it has to be done. Hopefully this wont happen again, hey?

Hopefully will have something new up soon, I haven't written _anything_ for a few days. It's really bad, but fngers crossed I'll get into the flow again soon.

New chapter up tomorrow.

Love, Fly.


	21. Chapter 20 Conversations

Chapter 20 Conversations

I walked into the gym that took up the whole of the 79th floor. I walked over to a wall and simply slide down it to a sitting position. I groaned and closed my eyes, now that the others had brought up the past; it was all I could think about. I, not so gently, banged the back of my head against the wall in attempt to get my brain to stop remembering and thinking so much. I heard the sound of the elevator and the doors opening and closing, I opened one eye to see Sapphire walking towards me.

She sat down beside me and leaned her head against her shoulder.

"So you and Barton hey?" I asked with a grin after a moment.

"I swear to god I will kill you one of these days Evans" Sapphire sighed as she sat up straight.

"I'm just joking" I said with a roll of my eyes "and I give you my permission to date him."

"Since when do I need your permission to do anything?" she question.

"Since always" I informed her as I stood up. "Come on" I said as I held out a hand to Sapphire, she shoot me a confused look but grabbed my hand regardless and pulled herself up "since we're here, we may as well train."

"That sounds like an excellent idea" she said with a grin.

The two of us changed into suitable clothes and started to work out.

"But seriously Lucious, you and Barton" I said after a while. I wasn't joking around here; I was nosy and wanted to know what was going on between the two of them.

"Okay then Evans, what about you and the Captain?" she asked as she sped up her treadmill, we ran side by side and I pushed up the speed on mine to match her pace.

"There is no 'me and the Captain'" I said, mimicking her. There is no me and captain, I repeated in my head, telling myself it's true.

"You sure about that?" she questioned; yeah, she did not believe me one bit.

"Positive" I said "and besides, this is about you and Barton. Don't try to change the subject"

"There's nothing going on" Sapphire said with a shrug of her shoulders. I knew this wasn't true;

Sapphire and Clint had been on a number of missions together and I knew that they got on well.

"Come on!" I protested "did you see the way he was staring at you before in the kitchen? He obviously likes you! The man was blushing Lucious, blushing" seriously, if you could make an assassin blush, than my god. There is something going on there.

"You should just tell him how you feel" I told her. Though Sapphire constantly tried to deny it, I knew she had a crush on Clint and had for years.

"Oh yeah Evans, cause that will go down so well" Sapphire said, sarcasm dripping from her words.

"When's the last time you two even talked?" I asked, thinking about it. Saph had been in her cat form the past month or so and before that Barton hadn't been around S.H.I.E.L.D, presumably doing Avengers stuff. Sapphire mumbled something incoherent under her breath.

"What was that?" I questioned. Sapphire cleared her throat.

"Just before I walked into here" she repeated loudly, I couldn't help but grin at this.

"Oh really?" I said with a smirk "what did you say?"

"You should really learn to mind your own businesses" Sapphire commented, I just looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. "He just asked me how I was, just normal stuff!" she sighed.

"Well you're boring" I said, wrinkly my nose. We both stopped our treadmills and stepped off.

"Yeah, cause your just so exciting" Sapphire said sarcastically. Wordlessly we walked over and grabbed some boxing equipment. I grabbed some mitts and held them up while Sapphire grabbed some gloves and started punching.

"You know why I won't date someone anyway Claire" Sapphire said softly as she held her arms up defensively in front of her face and punched the mitts. I rolled my eyes and gently hit her on the side of her head.

"It's because you're an idiot" I told her. And she was, she was being stupid, especially seeing how it was Barton.

"Claire" she whinnied.

"I know!" I said with a laugh "it's because you don't think you should date someone because you're an assassin, and they could get hurt, blah, blah, blah."

"Exactly" Sapphire said as she punched past the mitt and landed the blow on my shoulder. Bitch. In retaliation I kicked her in the shin. It was good natured though; neither of us were aiming to hurt the other… much…

"Which is just retarted, seeing how Barton's an assassin himself." I informed her; honestly it was one the stupidest thing I've ever heard come from her mouth. I wondered if this was what normal girls talked about in their spare time, boys and stuff. Yeah, that sounded about right. The conversations I shared with Sapphire were probably the closest I would ever get to a normal conversation and that was kinda sad.

"How's Lucas going?" I asked. Lucas was Sapphire's younger brother, I had met him a few times and despite all the crap he had been through his life he was still a good person. Saph and Lucas's parents were dead, killed by assassins 7 years ago. Sapphire tried to support him as much as she could but I knew she was always torn, she wanted to see her brother but she was afraid that someone may hurt him if any of her enemies found out their relationship.

"Good" Sapphire said "this is his last year of high school" wow, has it really been that long?

"Yep" she said popping the p. I pulled the mitts off my hands and threw them at Saph.

"You gonna stick to your plan?" I questioned as I walked over to where some other boxing gloves where stacked at attempted to find a pair that fit my hands. Sapphire just nodded her head.

Sapphire wanted to be an assassin about just as much as me; but she also had this sense of duty. Saph believed she had to take care of her brother, to take care of him so she did that the only way she knew how. She earned a living by killing and gave Lucas the best education money could buy. What a messed up world we lived in. Sapphire promised herself that she would leave S.H.I.E.L.D once Lucas graduated from school, meaning the end of the year. I felt nerves tighten my stomach. Did that mean she would leave S.H.I.E.L.D before I would? Deep down in my heart, I wasn't sure if I could handle facing life at S.H.I.E.L.D by myself, and I also wasn't sure if I was noble enough to let her walk away. I knew that I was selfish enough that if it came to it, I would ask Sapphire to stay with me until I fulfilled my debt and satisfied my stupid pride. And I hated myself for it.

"What about you?" Sapphire asked "last I heard S.H.I.E.L.D where only about a year and a half away from perfecting the serum again" I nodded my head as I sighed. This was something that I didn't want to think about but I knew that I had to.

"Yeah, S.H.I.E.L.D is still looking for a suitable candidate" I explained "they want me to help train them."

"Will you?" she asked me. I chewed on my bottom lip, I in no way wanted to, but I really had no say in it. While I was an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D I had no control over my life, a perfect example of this would be that I was currently an Avenger and living with my father.

"Probably" I told her, I finally found a pair of boxing gloves in my size and put them on. I walked up to Sapphire and as she held up the mitts I focused all my energy into hitting the mitts. I was tired of thinking, of thinking of the future and of thinking of the past. So I ignored it, I tried my best to ignore everything else except of the rhythm of my hits.

**Wow, 20 chapters. I know I say this a lot but you are all freaking incredible. 90 reviews, over 90 favourites and nearly 150 followers and over 20,000 views. Holy shit. When I first posted this story I never imagined I would get so much positive feedback. I can not begin to say just how gratefull I am for you guys, and the feedback I got from my message that I posted yesterday, you were all just so suppportive and blah! I'm rambling and need to get some homework done, so I'll let you go from my mushy-ness. Thank you all so much :3**

**Love, Fly. **


	22. Chapter 21 Finally

Chapter 21 Finally

Life settled into its abnormal pattern again, except this time with the addition of Sapphire. Banner was intrigued to say the least about Lucious ability to shape change, I just laughed at this. Wait until he found out she could change into more than just a cat. Thor addressed her as 'Sapphire of the Cat Shape Shifters' which amused everyone, while Steve just called her by his usual, formal 'ma'am'.

Natasha and Clint trained with us, Natasha making small (and not so subtle) comments about Sapphire and Clint, while Clint fumbled his way around a poor attempt of flirting. Everything was relatively peaceful until one day, this happened:

Most of the Avengers were gathered down in the labs as we looked at, what we hoped to be, the first lead to Kuchiku-kan. I read a file on a computer screen over Bruce's shoulder as Sapphire leaned against a wall with her eyes closed. After only a few hours' sleep for the past few nights, she was not in the best of moods. I knew her well enough and the others were smart enough to give her some space, except for my father that this. Tony walked up to her with a smirk on his face, ah well it was his funeral. I had warned him not to flirt with Sapphire but he refused to listen, and I knew that it was only a matter of time before Sapphire snapped and killed the man, which I would probably not complain about.

"Instead of spending tonight in Claire's or Barton's bed, how about spending it in mine?" Tony questioned. Oh dear god. We all stopped what we were doing and stared at my father, Barton looking ready to kill and I think I may join him. Sapphire's blues opened as she glared at the man. Oh shit, when you know someone for as long as I've known Saph you learn to read their facial expression, and right now Sapphire's face was screaming a warning sign. I straightened my back and prepared to run across the room. Even though I was usually the one to fight with Tony, I wouldn't put it past Sapphire to throw a punch at the man.

"In your bed?" Sapphire hissed. Oh shit.

"With me" Tony clarified with that stupid smirk still on his face. Shit, this will not end well.

"Tony" I said cautiously as I stepped closer to them "don't-"but I was too late, Sapphire exploded.

'Where hundreds of other woman and men have slept?! Where you try to prove your manhood and try to take control of something, even if it's with a weak woman or a drunken man?" with each word, Sapphire's voice rose. It wasn't often she got into a blinded rage like this, she usually left it to me, but when she did I knew it was generally best to just wait out the storm and clean up the mess later, interfering now would probably only lead to your death.

"How does your girlfriend bare to see the sight of you? You just invited another woman to spend the night with you when you're in a relationship! Did you ever for a moment even think about how that would affect Pepper? Who is probably the best damn thing that ever happened to you, that you don't deserve!" Sapphire continued to shout, Tony took a step back, clearly startled by her sudden outburst, Sapphire was normally soft spoken and polite, no one here besides me had seen her fly into a rage like this before. "Have you ever thought about how your actions affect others?! Do you ever even pause to stop and think about anyone else other than yourself?!" Sapphire stalked towards the horrified man.

"Saph, listen I-" Tony stuttered, trying to defend himself from the woman's rage as he held up his hands in surrender.

"Do you even release the effect you've had on Claire throughout her life?! When we were younger, do you know the amount of times she's would come home from seeing you in tears because she's convinced herself that it's all her fault you hate her and treat her like shit!" A blush covered my checks, okay now I may have to kill her for saying that. That was an event that I never wanted anyone to find out about, especially the Avengers. Some of whom stared at me upon hearing this fact.

"You're a pathetic excuses for a human" Sapphire hissed before she stormed out of the room. The room was silent for a moment before the sound of a slap echoed through. My hand stung as a bright pink hand print bruised Tony's check; he stared at me in shock.

"You idiot!" I said to him, I was furious now. No one hurts Sapphire. No one. "I told you not to flirt with her! I told you." The others all remained silent "What? Did you think I was just saying that for the hell of it?! Did it ever cross your mind that I may have said that for a reason?!" I stared up at him in disbelief. Did he even care? At my mother's grave, I had convinced myself that maybe Tony did have a heart. Guess I was wrong.

I just shook my head and walked out of the room in the same direction as Sapphire. The same direction as my real family.

…..

I found Sapphire in a corridor not too far from the lab, leaning against the wall and staring up at the roof. I wordlessly walked up to her and leaned against the opposite wall with my hands behind my back. I didn't attempt to start a conversation; I knew Sapphire would talk when she was ready.

"I shouldn't have exploded like that" she muttered after a while, I smiled softly. That was the difference between the two of us, though we both occasionally exploded with anger (me far more often than Lucious), Sapphire always knew she shouldn't have and admitted so afterwards and apologize to those involved, I on the other hand, never did. I was too stubborn and the fact of the matter was that Sapphire was simply a better person.

"You had every right to" I told her "everything you said was true." Sapphire laughed and shook her head.

"Still doesn't make it right" she said with a smile. We were silent for a moment before Sapphire sighed and rubbed her eyes, her shoulders sagging with weariness.

"You do realize that I'm gonna have to kill you now for telling the others about the story from when we were little" I joked, trying to lighten the mood. I hated to see Sapphire like this. So tired and down.

"What do you mean when we were little? You're still little" she teased me and I rolled my eyes.

Sapphire just loved to make fun about my height or rather lack of. Just then, Steve and Clint walked up to us and my stomach filled with butterflies. I had always thought that was a stupid term before and never understood, someone feeling as if their stomach was filled with butterflies. But when Steve walked up to me and Sapphire and he smiled at me, I understood.

"You alright?" Clint asked Sapphire, concern clear in his voice. I honestly hoped that he did like Saph and something good would become from it, she deserved someone like Clint. Sapphire simply nodded her head.

"You two okay to fight?" Barton questioned us and I raised an eyebrow.

"Fight?" I said, confused. When had fighting come into the equation?

"Banner was able to find out a possible location of Kuchiku-kan" Steve explained "we're going to investigate." I couldn't help but grin. A fight, hey? I couldn't think of anything better right now.

…..

Sapphire and Clint walked away together to go prepare for the possible fight leaving the Captain and myself very much alone in the corridor. I stayed leaned up against my wall as my nerves mounted. I was uncertain how to act around Steve with my new discovered feelings for the man; I had never been in this situation before.

"Are you alright Miss Claire?" Steve asked me.

"Me?" I questioned "I'm fine" I answered quickly. In truth, I had no idea anymore but I was glad that we finally had a lead that we could follow. "I'm a little worried about Sapphire" I admitted as an afterthought.

"If I didn't know better I would say that you were sisters" Steve said with a smile.

"I suppose in a way she is" I said. "She's the closest thing to family to me" I sighed and suddenly had to fight the urge to cry. Sometimes I really, really hated being female and having to put up with hormones.

"So Banner figured where Kuchiku-kan may be?" I asked Steve.

"Yes, a warehouse near the Gulf of Mexico rumoured to be base of a drug organisation" he explained. We stood beside each other, our arms brushing each other's. All I wanted was to close my eyes and lean against Steve and wish the world away. But I knew I couldn't.

"I should go get ready" I said even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. I just wanted to stay here with him. Steve was silent and with a sigh I stepped away from the wall.

"Claire wait!" he called out, his voice sounding somewhat strained. He reached out to gently grab my arm and I allowed him to turn me around to face him. We stood in the corridor only inches apart.

"Yes?" I whispered, I tried to follow some train of logical thought but I was having little success. Around Steve, I just felt like a silly little school girl with her first crush.

"I ah, want to tell you something" Steve mumbled, sounding unsure and nervous.

"What is it?" I asked, wondering what it could be. I questioned myself if I would ever understand the man before me. I suddenly felt a wave of dizziness wash through me. I stumbled slightly and when I tried to regain my balance I only managed to step badly and cause myself to fall into Steve's chest.

Automatically, Steve's arms wrapped around my waist, steading me and all I could think about was the morning in the kitchen at Stark Mansion oh so long ago. A dark blush covered my checks and I yelled furiously at myself. I was an assassin for crying out loud! I had superb balance, I didn't stumbled or trip, I didn't blush! Unless I was around Steve.

I glanced up at Steve and an even darker blush emerged. We stood face to face with our noses touching. I froze in shock as Steve slowly leaned down, closing the already small gap between us. When I made no move to stop him, Steve gently pressed his lips to mine. My mind quickly shut down and I slipped my arms around his neck as Steve pulled me closer. Even with Steve's height advantage, it wasn't unconfutable kissing him. My body just seemed to mould to his as his arms tightened around me protectively. Suddenly there was the sound of someone clearing their throat and Steve and I broke apart. The two of us turned in horror to see Natasha, Thor and Bruce staring at us, all with a grin on their faces.

"Interrupting something are we?" Natasha said with a wide grin. Steve and I just stood there in silence, not knowing what to say.

"Just thought you should know we're leaving soon!" Bruce called out as they all turned around and walked in the way they had just come from.

"It wasn't what it looked like!" I quickly called out after them, once I found my voice.

"Sure it wasn't!" Natasha said, with a laugh.

"I am so, so sorry ma'am!" Steve stammered once the others had left "that was inappropriate and I was out of line-"with a smile I cut him off as I stepped up to him and balancing on my tippy toes I pressed my lips to his again.

"I'll see you soon, kay?" I said with a grin once we had broken apart for the second time.

"Kay" Steve said sounding breathless.

**Finally a kiss! :3 hehe. Sorry this chapter took a while to get out but I want to be completely satisfied with it before I posted it so yeah... This is kinda off topic but, I hate school -.- I think in some places, the school year is just starting but over in Australia its nearly the end of term 3 (we have 4 terms) so that means I have around 8 weeks of classes left till exams :( eww, oh well not much I can do but study my ass off. **

**Hope everyone is enjoying the story! Thanks for all your support and feedback :) **

**Love, Fly. **


	23. Chapter 22 It was a Maze

Chapter 22 - It was a Maze...

The Avengers all stood in the jet, waiting to arrive at their destination. We were currently flying across the Gulf of Mexico towards the coastal town, Merida. As the afternoon progressed, the temperature continued to drop as dark storm clouds gathered overhead and my stomach twisted into a ball of nerves every time I happened to catch sight of the threatening sky. No one in the world beside Sapphire knew of my fear, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Each of us were ready for a fight, while Clint and Natasha sat up the front of the plane in the cockpit Tony made a few final adjustments to his suit. Thor stood in his god-like armour, Bruce in his civilian clothes with 'the other guy' rattling his cage inside, ready to come out. Steve in his Captain America suit, complete with his shield which rested against his legs. Sapphire sat across from me dressed in the standard leather outfit for S.H.I.E.L.D agents' with a few knifes and a gun strapped to her body. She looked between me and Steve with a large grin on her face while I made it my goal to avoid eye contact with her at all cost. Much to Steve and mine embarrassment, word of our kiss had spread so now all of the Avengers knew and Tony did not seem too happy about it. Every other second he would turn to glare at Steve, as if he was about to run over to me and we would start to make out at any moment now.

"So what's the plan Captain?" Bruce asked, thankfully he didn't seem to care too much about the kiss between Steve and I, so I made a mental note to spend more time with him in the near future if it meant I could live in peace.

"Doctor, you'll just be backup for now. I don't want the other guy coming out unless it's absolutely necessary" Steve said, instantly it was if he became a different person and it was easy to see that he had once been a solider, Bruce nodded with a relieved look on his face. "Romanoff will stay on the jet so there's someone on the guns and if we need to, we can leave at a moment's notice. Stark will stay here for now as well; if Kuchiku-kan is here, we don't want him to know Iron Man is here. Thor will stay here as well, if we get into trouble, he'll be the first I call in. Barton, Evans, Lucious and I will go in and scout the area out." We each nodded upon hearing our orders. Though no one had said who was actually the formal leader of the Avengers it was clear to see that it was Steve and that he expected his orders to be taken without question. Steve then turned to look between me and Sapphire "Claire, Sapphire, I haven't seen either of you fight so for now just fight as you usually would." I nodded my head. Good, both Sapphire and I worked better when we were together; we knew that we could always rely on the each other to watch our backs.

Clint walked out of the cockpit and strapped his bow to his back. The four of us stood and collect parachutes from the overhead racks.

"Here Claire, this one looks tiny enough to fit you" Sapphire said with a smirk as she threw the back pack towards me. I caught it with ease and flipped her off.

"You're a bitch" I commented mildly. She was but on the plus side, she had found a parachute pack small enough to fit me without too much adjustment.

"Here" Tony said, handing all of us a small ear bud with a microphone attached "we'll be able to stay in contact through these. Also, I've set up infra-red cameras so we'll be able to see everything going on down on the ground" I was still mad at the bastard about before, but he had apologised as soon as he saw Lucious and I knew that I need to concentrate on the job. I could yell at Tony some more later. I knew that Tony wasn't to please with me or Steve at the moment but honestly, I couldn't care less but I also knew that seeing how it was Tony, he would probably have something to say on the matter which I was not looking forward to.

"From what I know, the place should be deserted and there's no housing around" Bruce said "plus with all the clouds, no one should be able to see you land" I felt the familiar mixture of adrenaline and excitement that I always felt just before a mission mount in my stomach. After a month and a half of sitting still, it was good to finally be on a job again. Being an assassin and fighting was all I knew so I clung to that sense of familiarity.

The door of the jet opened a gust of cold air blew through. I shivered slightly as I double checked the straps on my parachute pack and pulled my hair back into a pony tail. I was torn, it was annoy as hell to have long, thick hair and I honestly preferred to have short hair but I had overheard that Steve liked long hair. So here I now was, still with long hair because the guy I had a crush on liked long hair. Yeah… I was bloody pathetic. I really need to get my emotions under control and soon, otherwise I'm going to drive myself insane. I shook my head and told myself to get a grip. I need to concentrate.

I took one last deep breathe before I followed suit as the others all jumped out of jet.

I forced myself to relax as I started to free fall towards the ground.

I was last to land on the ground and I quickly pulled the parachute pack off my back, crumbled the cords into a ball and shoved it carelessly under a bush.

"I don't think anyone saw us" Clint said softly. It seemed that way too. Night had truly fallen by now and dark storm clouds covered the whole sky. The only sound was the wind whistling through the few bushes and trees that surrounded us. The ground was relatively flat and in the distance lay a collection of lights that I presumed to be the town, Merida. Closer to us, probably around 800 meters away was what appeared to be dark bumps in the ground. Warehouses.

"The warehouse we're looking for is in front of you around 827meters" Banners voice said in our ears. Looks like the ear pieces work, I thought to myself. Silently we started walking towards the warehouse and I adjusted the gun strapped to my left thigh to a position where I could more easily grab a hold of it.

We slowly approached the warehouse. It looked completely and utterly abounded. There were no lights or even signs of it being habited. We bypassed the main door in favour of a smaller door to the back.

"I have a bad feeling about this" Sapphire muttered as we walked into the warehouse whilst Clint stayed outside keeping guard. Once my eyes had adjusted to the even dimmer light inside, I could help but agree with Sapphire. This wasn't a warehouse. It was a maze.

**Hiya :3 sorry this chapter is probably a little bit boring and bland but yeah... it had to be done to give info and stuff... Yeah. **

**But I promise next chapter will be long and filled with fighting (possibly) and exciting stuff so look forward to that! **

**You are all freaking incredible, there is over 105 reviews and favourites and over 160 followers. Holy freaking moly. That is just... Ah! thank you all! There has been such awesome feedback from last chapter so thank you for that :) I was being naughty and checking fanfiction in class the other day and when I read all the new reviews I started jumping up and down in my chair and screaming in joy at my laptop. I think my teacher is now convinced I may be slightly retarted... Meh oh well, you win some, you lose some :D **

**Remember, I always love hearing critisim just as much as it means I can improve my writing and make it better for you guys, so dont be shy! **

**Love, Fly. **


	24. Chapter 23 Inside the Maze

"Holy shit" I breathed as the three of us attempted to take in the sight before us. The corridor we stood in soon split into 2, and then those 2 corridors then split off into two new corridors and so on. I strained my eyes to see an end to the splitting corridors but saw none.

"What's going on down there?" Tony's voice demanded. I had forgotten that up in the jet they only had infrared cameras, meaning they could be unable to see the labyrinth before us.

"It's like a maze down here" I said quietly. So far, there had been no signs of any life down here but I wasn't about to bet anything on it just yet, I had been on too many missions to be that naïve.

"Any signs of life on the cameras Stark?" Steve asked as he looked around. I pulled one of my semi-automatic handguns out of its holster and triple checked that it was loaded and ready to go. My mouth was dry and I licked my lips, my ears and eyes attempting to catch any signs of life.

"No, nothing yet-" the words had barely left Tony's mouth when the sound of a gunshot echoed from one of the many corridors.

"MOVE!" I yelled. The three of us dived to the walls and I raised my gun and fired a round in the direction where the sound had originated. Sapphire pulled out her own weapons while Steve held up his shield defensively. It was more or less pitch black in here, meaning it was impossible to see anything making it even worse of a situation to be in. I could barely make out the corridors let alone the shape of the figures shooting at us.

"What the hell Stark?!" Sapphire hissed as bullets flew past us "what happened to nothing?!" A bullet whizzed past only inches from my face and I froze momentarily before pulling out the now empty magazine and shoving in a new one. In a fluid practiced movement, I pulled back the barrel and continued to fire. I heard a groan of pain and the thud of a body hitting the floor.

"There's nothing coming up on the cameras!" Tony shouted in our ears, sounding frantic. I faintly heard him and Banner yelling to each other.

"Thor, Barton, get in here!" Steve commanded. In a matter of seconds Clint was by my side, his bow at the ready.

"Wait! Stop!" Sapphire called out suddenly. I hesitated but listened to her instruction and rested my finger on the trigger. Steve and Clint both froze. It was silent. There were no more bullets being fired, nothing, it was now eerily silent again.

"We didn't kill all of them, did we?" I questioned quietly. The sound of the metal door behind us slammed shut, the sound echoing loudly and bouncing off the walls. I span around to see the door we just came through now closed. Steve walked up to it and looked for a handle. Nothing. My stomach dropped and I licked my lips. This was not good.

"Hello to the Avengers" a voice said. The voice was deep, cruel and cold. I frantically looked around for the source of the voice before forcing myself to calm down. Panicking would achieve nothing.

"Now who do we have here?" The voice questioned "let's see. Captain Steven Rogers, the living legend, frozen in the ocean for almost 70 years. Born July 4th 1922, to the poor Irish immigrants, Sarah and Joseph Rogers. Clinton Francis Barton, Hawkeye, who was orphaned at an early age, sent to a children's home before running away to join a traveling circus with his brother, Bernard. Sapphire Anna Lucious, Hell Beast, an orphan and older sister to Lucas Jonathan Lucious. And last but not least Clarissa Jane Evans, Angel, daughter of the famous Tony Stark and Director Fury's favourite and most prized experiment that wasn't even meant to be." He sounded so insanely proud of himself for his knowledge.

"Who the hell are you?" Sapphire questioned. I knew she wouldn't be too happy that this guy knew about Lucas. I wasn't too happy myself. Whoever this guy was, he must be pretty powerful and have friends in some very high places to know the things he knew.

"I am Kuchiku-kan" the voice said "and welcome to my maze"

"This was all a trap" I said out loud as I realized the fact. Of course it was. We found nothing on Kuchiku-kan for months then just by chance stumbled onto his possible location? It was too convenient.

"Well done Clarissa" the man's voice said gloating. He sounded almost cheerful.

"Stark, Banner" Clint said softly into his microphone "you guys hearing this?"

"Yeah" Bruce replied "there is still nothing coming up on the infrared red cameras, all I can see is you four."

This really was not good. The situation had gone from bad to worse and was now quickly moving into catastrophic territory.

"Now this is how it's going to work" Kuchiku-kan announced in a business-like manner. "Think of this as a game of sorts. I am currently somewhere in this maze, if you live and manage to find me I will present with an offer, an opportunity."

"Don't do anything, Thor's on his way." Bruce told us.

"I would not rely on your Asgardian friend if I where you" Kuckiku-kan said "he may be a bit… let's say… preoccupied outside, also I believe that the other Avengers in the jet roughly 1.23 kilometre in the air directly above my maze may be busy in the very near future. "

Oh yeah, this was now well worthy to be in the 'catastrophic territory'. I let out a groan, and there goes my plan of lying in bed and watching NCIS all night.

"So what's the plan Cap?" Sapphire asked with a sigh. There wasn't a whole lot we could do. We couldn't just stand around here twiddling our thumbs, so that left one other option.

"We need to search the maze, hope Kuchiku-kan was telling the truth when he said he was here and try to find him" Steve said in his captain like way as he rubbed a hand over his face.

"Hawkeye and Lucious, you two take the left corridor, you can separate or stay together, whatever you prefer, just stay safe. Evans and I will take the right corridor." Steve said and we all nodded.

Sapphire flashed me an evil grin as she stood to her full height and threw her gun towards me, the only weapon she had. I caught it and raised an eyebrow. "See you at the other end 'Angel'." She said, using my code name.

"Don't destroy everything 'Hell Beast'." I told her with a grin as I used her own codename. She let out a laugh before she and Clint headed off down their corridor, quickly disappearing from sight. I slipped Sapphire's gun into one of my free holsters before and turn to look at Steve. My eyes were being to adjust to the dim light but I could still only make out faint details of Steve's face.

"You ready to go?" I asked him, he nodded and we silently headed down the right corridor.

"Stark, what's going on up on the jet?" I asked, I told myself not to worry, that Bruce, Tony and Natasha where more than capable of taking care of themselves but even so, a small knot of unease twisted in my stomach.

"Some one's trying to hack into the systems" Bruce replied, sounding distracted as Tony reeled off instructions to the doctor and Jarvis and I cursed silently.

"Saph, Tash, Clint. If we get out of here alive, Fury's gonna kick our asses for screwing up so badly" I told the other agents and they all groaned in unison, knowing I was right. When Fury heard that the mission was going to the shitter so soon, he would not be too impressed that 4 of his best agents, a demigod, 2 geniuses and a super solider couldn't handle a Japanese thug. We would be in for hell if we ever got out of this god forsaken maze.

"Hey kid." Tony's voice called out

"Yeah?" I responded.

"Don't die." He said softly and I let out a laugh.

"Don't have a heart attack, old man" I told him before forcing myself to concentrate what was in front of me as I pushed a few strands of hair that had fallen loose from my pony tail back off my face.

Tonight's gonna be a long night.

**Sorry it took me a while to get this chapter out -.- schools a bitch. **

**things you should know about my life at the moment; **

**1. I'm incredibly busy**

**2. Psy's 'gangnam style' was seriously on the radio today, like one of the main, popular radio stations, I shit you not. It was exciting to think that kpop may become popular enough to get on everyday radio, I'm hoping that one day 'Pandora' by Kara will be one, hey a girl can dream. (yeah I realize how much of a loser I am)**

**3. I want to dye my hair **

**4. I'm in love with Paramore at the moment. **

**5. I'm going away with school for a week and a half so I will not be updating after this for a while :( sorry! I'm going to central Australia so I probably wont have internet for the most part -.- facebook, I can live without but I'm not sure how I will survive without Youtube and fanfiction. I get to see Ayers Rock while I'm away so thats very exciting, and it will be around 30 degrees up there! Yay! some warmth and sun! I am so sick of freezing my butt off, so the warm weather will be very much appreciated! But, once I get back I'll be on school holidays so hopefully I will be able to update a lot then. **

**I hope everyone has a safe and happy few weeks while I'm away! **

**Love, Fly. **


	25. Chapter 24 Fighting a Ninja

Steve and I walked down the dimly lit halls in silence, each of us too focused on what was ahead of us to make conversation. Besides, even if we hadn't been preoccupied, I doubt either of us would know what to say.

"We're heading underground" I said and Steve jumped slightly at the sudden noise.

"What?" Tony said.

"Yeah" I sighed, as if we need anything else to worry about. "It's getting colder down here and we've been taking the right corridor for too long to not run into the end"

"Claire's right" Clint's voice said over the headphone "it must be only a slight slope"

"Fantastic" I heard Sapphire groan and I couldn't help but laugh at her response.

"Oh come on Saph" I told her "we've been in worse situations before. That time in France was easily twice as bad as this"

"Yeah, but this situation isn't over yet Evans" Sapphire replied. Fair point.

"I don't even want to know what happened" Tony muttered and both Sapphire and I laughed.

We all lapsed into silence, until a few moments passed and Steve broke it.

"Can I ask you something Claire?" he said quietly. I glanced over at him in the dim light but I only caught a glimpse of his profile as he stared straight ahead.

"Sure" I said with a shrug, wondering what it could be as we continued to walk down the never ending corridors.

"How did you get your code name? Angel." He asked, almost bashfully and I let out a small laugh, he was just too cute.

"Blame Sapphire" I said with a grin as I remembered how I acquired the name "when we were younger, I think we were about 12 or something, Sapphire heard me singing" I explained "she said it was as if an Angel was singing it was so beautiful, everyone around base heard about it and the name just stuck."

"You can sing?" Steve said with a hint of disbelief and shock in his voice and I raised an eyebrow in question at him. Was it really that unrealistic that I could sing?

"And play piano, violin and guitar" I added.

"How come I didn't know that?" Tony questioned, sounding bewildered.

"I knew that!" sang a chorus of voices as Sapphire, Clint and Natasha all replied, all three of them sounding as if they were gloating and rubbing their knowledge in Tony's face.

"It's not like it's a secret or anything" I told them with a role of my eyes.

"I would love to hear you Claire" Steve said softly with a faint blush on his face "could you sing for me sometime?" he questioned.

Now it was my turn to blush. I never really sang in front of anyone. I only ever sang and played when I was alone and trying to make my head shut up or for Sapphire late at night when neither of us could sleep. I had always refused whenever someone had asked me to sing for them, but this was Steve asking. I opened my mouth to form something that I hoped resembled a reply when the sound of a footstep cut me off. Acting without thought, I ripped a gun free from its holster and flattened myself against the wall and Steve raised his shield as the sound of a weapon being fired echoed through the halls. Seeing the attacker's dark shadow I fired twice before forcing the voice in my head that was telling me that it was a bad idea to be silent and sprinting towards the figure.

He was tall, that's for sure. If we stood side by side, he would tower over me with ease, head and shoulders above (but then again, lets me realistic, that's not that hard.)

A fist came flying towards me and I did the best to dodge it but in the dim light, it was easier said than done. When I heard the sounds of another fight I knew that Steve was engaged in a fight and that I would be alone for this one. With a furry of attacks, the man and I tumbled to the ground, my back hit the hard ground and the wind was knocked out of me, leaving me breathless. With knife in hand, he swiped the weapon in a wide arc, creating a shallow graze along my hip. I hissed in pain and rolled onto my feet and into a low crouch. Ignoring the wound knowing that my body would take care of it and it would heal up soon enough, I focused entirely on the man in front of me, ignoring anything else. The corridor we were in had enough light for me to make out the basic features of the man. He was tall, around 6'4" with dark, dirty hair falling around his face, he clearly had Asiatic heritage and was covered in scars and muscles.

"Looks like I got myself a pretty one." He chuckled, staring at me up and down. Oh god, I hate men sometimes. He held a kunai in hand and had a katana strapped to his back and I raised an eyebrow.

"Looks like I got a wanna be ninja" I said mockingly. Seriously, a ninja? This whole night was turning to insanity. Okay then, screw guns. Looks like hand-to-hand it will be. I knew my temper was staring to wear thin and a couple of smart remarks from this guy could send me into a rage, and I wasn't particularly in the mood to control myself.

Moving as quickly as I could in hope to gain the element of surprise, I aimed a kick at the man's head. We traded blows for the next few moments, both giving and receiving injuries but neither of us really gaining the upper hand.

I swore loudly as the kunai sliced through my arm, creating yet another cut. This guy was a pain in the ass. I dodged the next attack and kicked him in the knee with as much force as I could. His knee buckled, sending his large frame to the ground. I pulled out a gun and had it pointed at his head in a blink of the eye.

"Where is Kuchiku-kan?" I demanded. The man chuckled before swinging his weapon at me again. I dropped the gun in my hands and flipped over his body, the blade missing my neck by inches. My body may be able to heal faster than normal, but I didn't like my chances with a slit throat. I was no Wolverine. I grabbed his large hand in both of mine and snapped it with a quick flick of my wrists. He screamed out in pain before pulling away from my grip and rolling away. I got into a ready stance as he pulled himself up onto his feet. He sneered at me as he hugged his now broken hand to his chest.

"Dirty little bitch." He snarled, a glare aimed to kill directed at me. I just winked at the man and in response he let out a low growl and charged forward again. I moved fast, dodging his sets of kicks and punches from his one good arm. I felt my back hit the wall and an evil grin spread across his face as his hand shot forwards and grabbed my neck tightly.

"Shame we couldn't have some fun before I kill you" He whispered with a cocky smirk. I chuckled breathlessly as I lifted my legs up and landed two hard kicks into his stomach. The man flew backwards and collided into the wall opposite me. I rubbed my neck and got to my feet. I spotted the kunai a few feet away from me. I looked between it and my opponent for a moment before nodding to myself. I scooped up the weapon as I charged towards the man. He was on his feet and watched me run towards him. The blade held tightly in my left hand. When I was close enough to hit him, I gave the guy another wink before dropping to the ground and sliding in between the guys legs. Once I was through his legs, I shot to my feet and span around, the small knife in a wide arc cutting through the air. As adrenaline pupped through my body, a sort of high spread all throughout my body, the world slowed for a moment. The man's blood splattered across the weapon and the walls, and as his body hit the ground, I could only think of one thing;

"I hate my job" I muttered as I panted and glanced around me only for a knot of panic to form in my stomach.

"Steve!" I called out, spinning around. "Steve!

**Hey, long time no update, hey? he, he... No, in all seriousness its been like what 3 weeks, a month? Oppsies... I am really sorry everyone, I know its a lame ****excuses but time just got away from me.  
In other news, Uluru is just... amazing, bloody incredible. And Kings Canyon its just... mind blowing. We walked around the Canyon which is around 10km in 38 degrees. It was so hot! I was sweating my butt off, but definitely worth it. The view on top is just amazingly beautiful. Well I think that is enough hippy talk for one day, Again, I am so sorry for not updating sooner, I will try to be better and get into a routine where I write regularly so fingers crossed! **

**Love, Fly. **


	26. Chapter 25 Revelations

"Steve!" I called out, spinning around. "Steve!"

"Claire!" I heard his voice, but only through the ear piece "you alright?"

"Where the hell are you?" I asked into the microphone, this was not good. "God damn it, we'll never find each other in this place."

"You two alright?" Sapphire asked sounding concerned.

"Yeah, we just got separated" I said and sighed. Tonight was really starting to suck.

"There's no point looking for each other in here" Steve said with a sigh "just follow the path you're on"

"Right" I said with a nod of my head and started to continue on my way.

With every step I could feel myself getting more and more weary, I had been in this god forsaken place who knows how long, time just slipped away down here and after a few fights my patience was really starting to wear thin. I wanted to find this bastard who called himself Kuchiku-kan, kick his head in, find out how he knew the things he did and make sure he never threatened my father again.

As I walked through the corridors of the maze by myself and the silence settled down on me, I began to release just how utterly alone I was in this place. True I occasionally heard the sounds of fights from Sapphire, Clint and Steve, I knew that Thor was somewhere on the outside occupied in a fight himself and the others were, hopefully, more or less safe in the jet.

Though I was confident in my abilities and wasn't afraid to be alone, I never fully realized what a comfort Steve's presence was in this place. Now I thought about it, Steve's presence was a constant source of comfort in my life.

God, the more time I spent with Steve and the more my feelings grew, the more uncertain I become of how I should act. There's no way that I can deny of my feelings for the man, not any more. I would just be flat out lying to myself to say otherwise. What the hell would I do? I had never acted on any romantic feelings I had before in my life, knowing it was pointless to get too attacked to someone considering my…. life style. But this was Steve, kind, considerate Steve who made me feel all those cliché things. He made me feel warm and happy; he made me smile and laugh.

He made me feel safe.

…

I stepped cautiously around the corner, I had heard the faint sounds of footsteps and soft mumbles only moments beforehand. A pair, I guessed, and taking into the factor of my past luck, it would be massively muscled wanna be ninjas again. I had met actual ninjas before and trust me, they were a lot cooler.

The pair of footsteps grew louder and the low mumble of voices grew clearer, yep definitely male. And they were heading this way, just my luck. The only reason why I wasn't particularly in the mood was simply because I wanted to save all my ass kicking for Kuchiku-kan.

Silently I pressed close to the corners and pulled out my gun. Okay, breathe, I instructed myself. In and out. Inhale and exhale. Or some shit like that.

I slipped through the corridor, placing the heel of my foot down first and rolling my foot slowly towards my toes onto the ground to minimize the noise of my steps. For more balance and support, I bent low at the knees and in this manner crept my way to the adjoining corridor.

The men approached, and for a second I worried that they knew I was here. They were now silent and walking slowly. Telling myself that it was too late to worry about that, I took one last deep breathe before jumping around the corner to face the pair. Gun held steady and just about to pull the trigger when a voice stopped me.

"Hey!" a familiar voice shouted, hands held up in front of them "easy!"

"Clint?" I said cautiously "Steve?" keeping my gun raised, I attempted to make out some recognisable characteristic of the men in front of me. I slowly lowered my gun, relaxing slightly.

"You alright Claire?" Clint asked stepping closer.

"Well, I'm alive, but as soon as we get out of this bloody place, the better" I said dryly. For a moment, a wave of guilt washed through as I realized how close I had been to shooting two men that I actually cared about. I pushed that aside, I would let the wave crush me later when we weren't in an underground what seemed endless maze trying to find a Japanese psychopath.

"Come on, we need to find Miss Sapphire and Kuchiku-kan" Steve said as he stepped closer to me. In a purely protective and gentlemanly- like manner he gently placed a hand at my elbow and guided me down a corridor, just like the guy did in the movies. Steve was making me fall for him more every second without even trying, god I was just digging myself a hole. Just in time to interrupt my inner monolog that seemed to be a common occurrence tonight was Sapphire's voice through the ear piece.

"Guy's I've got Kuchiku-kan!" she said, though it was easy to tell that she was worn out just like all of us, a hint of excitement could be heard in her voice.

"We're at the end of the maze I think" she informed us "just keep heading in, it's a large, lit room"

Wishing she could give us some more directions but knowing she couldn't, the three of us continued with renewed energy at the thought of finally being able to find this guy. We walked for a while suddenly something that wasn't a dull grey shadow.

"That way!" I said, pointing down a corridor to the left, there was a faint light coming from that direction so that was a good enough indication for me. The three of us started to run and the light continued to grow. The corridor came to an end and we entered a large, well lit room. Sapphire stood a few meters into the room and though her position looked relaxed I could she would be ready to transform into an animal (literally) and attack the man in front of her at any given moment.

The man, after months of fruitless searching and hours in this maze, would this finally be him? Am I finally face to face with a man calling himself Kuchiku-kan, a man threatening to destroy my father?

Just as the other man I had faced in here, he was Asiatic and his dark hair shaved closed to his head. A thick scar slashing through the lower half of his face, causing his lip to be filled into a permanent scowl. Mid 30's I guessed and judging from his posture, insanely cocking. I was growing to hate this man more and more with every passing second. At the sound of our entrance, he looked up and stared at us, a dark grin forming over his mutilated face.

"Ah, so you finally found you're way here" he said grinning at us. "You see, it feels like you're all long lost friends to me, I know so much about you." I raised an eyebrow, so we have a stalker on our hands apparently. As he had before when he spoke to us over the speakers when we had first entered his maze, he rattled off information that there was no way he should know.

"Sapphire how is your brother? In his last year of high school I believe, wanting to go medical school at Harvard" Wow, Lucas wanted to go to Harvard? That was impressive. Kuchiku-kan continued his speech of information, finishing Sapphire, then Clint, then Steve. Each of their faces slowly darkening as he relieved their secrets and past, but all of us too entranced to find out all he knew to stop him. Finally he got to me.

"And Claire" he said softly with a smile, as if we were old friends "how is it going as a mock super solider?"

**Oh god! Where does time go D: I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this out! Ahhhh! I'm crazy busy -.- but on the bright side I'll completely finish this school year in 29 days, so that's nice :P**

**Again, I'm sorry I made you all keep waiting for so long, but with exams coming up it means most of my time is dedicated to studying :( but I set up a study timetable with writing time actually scheduled in, so hopefully I'll post a bit (lot) more.**

**If, like me, any of you love music, listen to Ailee's performance of Halo, it's incredible! Gah, wish I could sing.**

**I may have to dye my hair blue or pink because of a bet I made with a friend (my parents will kill me if I actually do it, but meh)**

**I WANT THE NEW ASSASSINS CREED! IT LOOKS SOOOOO GOOD!**

**I heard there's another Final Fantasy coming out! Woo, more of Lightning's awesomeness! :D**

**One of my friends is getting paid to cosplay! :O so lucky!**

**And I think that's all that I feel the need to tell you guys. Thanks for being so patient, I'll try my hardest to update more :3**

**Love, Fly.**


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